


Somewhere Different

by Ree_Dragon



Series: Beyond Their Star [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blue Pearl is mute, Culture Shock, Gen, Greg is Sweet, I will be adding tags as they become applicable, Lapis Lazuli is Steven's friend but not a Crystal Gem, Lapis Lazuli is a former member of Blue Diamond's court, Lapis has some trauma to deal with, Steven adds to his polymorphic sentient rock collection, a boy and his alien moms, friendship for everyone!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ree_Dragon/pseuds/Ree_Dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks in part to Lapis' help, Steven and Garnet are finally back home from their mission gone wrong, and they've brought a new friend with them!  For Steven, this may seem like life got even better, but Blue Diamond's Pearl just feels overwhelmed by everything she has to learn and everything she has to leave behind.  Can Steven and his friends help her through the adjustments and show her how wonderful the life of a free gem can be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue - Starting Over

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for taking so long! This chapter has been done for a while, but life got weird (I won't go into everything, but my glasses breaking beyond repair is part of the reason for the delay). I'll be posting this a bit slower than Out Beyond Their Star - that story was mostly done before I started posting, but I'm still in the middle of writing the real Chapter 1 for Somewhere Different, so you'll probably get to see that the very hour it's done. I also have a mid-quel to the first story in the planning stages focusing on Lapis and her rescue mission, so I'll probably be alternating between chapters of each story once I get my outline ready. I intend to get a chapter done every week (unless it's a particularly long one), but we'll see how things go.
> 
> This story starts before the epilogue of the last (though the epilogue will be acknowledged when I get to that point). Sorry for the shortness. This chapter felt like it was needed, but there's still not a lot one can do in a scene like this.

Blue mist surrounded her, forming into shapes that seemed like they should make sense and dissipating before she could puzzle them out.  Beyond the mist was a wide expanse that shone in pale shades of blue and purple, depending on how she looked at it.  There was light here, though she couldn’t figure out where it might be coming from.  Perhaps it was coming from her?

She couldn’t see herself – but of course she couldn’t.  She had no form, for the first time since she could remember.  It was a strange, scary sensation, but she wasn’t actually afraid.  Not really.  The strange, almost human-like gem who seemed to be a Rose Quartz but went by the name of Steven had done nothing but protect her.  Somehow, she – or he, as he’d been called – had befriended the Sapphire, Ruby, and Lapis that had all gone missing from Blue Diamond’s court around the time of Earth’s failed colonization – gems she’d assumed had died in the war.  That…was going to be an adjustment, but what wasn’t?  She was going to a new home now, with a new master and a court of strangers.  She was sure a completely new set of rules and routines awaited her as soon as she regenerated.  She’d have to forget everything she knew and start all over again.

Well…almost everything.  She could never forget her Diamond, even if she wanted to.  It was because of Blue Diamond that she’d come to exist in the first place.  She’d been created to her master’s exact specifications, and she’d spent several thousand years seeing to her every need.  In return, she’d been protected and cared for.  Her place was always lower than the other members of the court – except for the pearls belonging to Blue Diamond’s most trusted soldiers and advisers – but Blue Diamond had always made sure she was safe and treated carefully, if not respectfully.

Until now.

A painful weight hung on her, and she worked to try and brush it off.  It was unseemly for a Pearl to feel such strong emotion, and any feeling could only build up and become more painful without a body to laugh or cry and release it into the universe.

Before she could do anything else, she needed to pull herself out of this state.  She’d never done this before – not since the very first time she’d taken a form, and that had been automatic – but she’d seen and heard of it happening enough that she thought she knew what to do.  Her previous body formed from the mist in front of her, its colors and shape morphing slightly to match her thoughts – the nose becoming shorter or longer, a slightly shorter and curvier shape, longer arms, broader shoulders… – and finally settled on the shape she’d always had.  It was the only thing that seemed natural, and it was the form Blue Diamond had picked out for her.  With that point in mind, her leotard materialized around her form, completely unchanged from how she’d been.

That should be the end of it but something seemed wrong with the form.  It seemed…too vulnerable, somehow.  She pondered over this a while, changing the form in small ways – lifting the bangs up over her eyes, adding a pair of translucent slippers, adding cuffs to her wrists – but none of these changes seemed right, and she removed them a moment later.

Then she figured out the problem, and a simple choker materialized around her neck.  If she could, she’d smile.  Much better!  Less vulnerable, without altering her Diamond’s design significantly.  She gave the form a final look-over to make sure she was satisfied, and then her consciousness drifted into it, settling easily inside the not-quite-body.  Here she was, then.  This was the form she’d inhabit until the next time she was seriously injured.  Now she needed to figure out how to bring it out of her gem.

As though responding to her thoughts, her surroundings started to glow.  The gem just under her throat also started glowing, and she had to close her eyes as the glow strengthened.  This sensation, at least, was familiar, and she braced herself as the light seemed to melt her form and transport her outside herself.

It was time to face her new life.


	2. The Noodle Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regeneration, introductions, and first impressions. Not sure that I should say any more than that.

The light continued to intensify, and she felt herself growing out beyond the smooth sphere of her gem.  In the span of about a second the light stretched from her gem, molding itself into the form she’d first generated back when she was new.  Then the choker formed around her neck and the glow started to fade.  The familiar blue wall of hair partially obstructed her vision, but beyond it she could see what seemed to be the interior of some wooden human structure – she wanted to call it a hut, but it wasn’t anything like the human huts she’d seen on her first visit to Earth.  Whatever it was, she didn’t have time to ponder over it.  Her body stopped floating, lowering itself gently so that her heels touched down on some surface.

Only her heels.  Beyond them, the surface seemed to drop away.  She started, and then the world tumbled around her.  She opened her mouth in a silent scream as she crashed into something hard.  The thing collapsed underneath her, spilling her onto another surface in a heap.  There was a yell from somewhere nearby that might have been her name, but she barely heard it because at that moment something boiling hot collided with her head and ran down her hair, face, and shoulders.  She bit back a hiss at the pain, her body trembling and – for the most part – unresponsive.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?”  Steven was beside her in an instant, pulling a bowl off her head and setting it aside.  His hands gently gripped her shoulders and he helped her into a sitting position.  Chunks of green, orange, and brown matter and odd sand-colored strands fell away from her as her body moved, though a few of the odd strands stubbornly clung to her nose.  “Garnet told me this would be a bad day for soup, but I thought she meant it’d sit in my stomach too long or something.  Not…this.”

She nodded, her movements slow and careful partly to avoid splashing Steven with the stuff and partly because the heat of the mess was still searing her.  Thankfully, it had started to cool down, but the pain was slower to fade.

“I’m sorry.  Here.”  Steven licked his hand and put it on her shoulder.

The healing coursed through her – erasing the burning – and she let out a grateful sigh.  She was still covered in something weird, but at least she wasn’t in pain anymore.  She stood and looked around, studying her surroundings.  The structure had two different levels – a fact she’d already discovered the hard way – and it was full of all kinds of things she didn’t recognize and could never guess the purpose of.

There was the sofa right behind her, and a bench by a window looking out on a beach.  Above was what appeared to be a cushion of some sort, and toward the back of the structure was a cave with a gem door and warp pad.  So...this was the rebel base?  It wasn’t what she was expecting, but there was no way she could have expected any of this.

“I’m really glad to see you again,” Steven said after a moment of letting her gaze wander.

She knelt in front of him.  She’d done this before, and he’d seemed conflicted about it, but it seemed inappropriate not to.  He was her master now, after all.  She couldn’t…she couldn’t, and he and his allies had been kind enough to take her in.

The little quartz grabbed her hands and tried to pull her up into a standing position again.  She let him, but then glanced at the broken table beside her.  She was the reason for that, and the mess surrounding it.  Why was he not yelling at her?  She pulled away from him to collect the soft, squishy scraps of whatever had fallen on and around her.

“No, it’s okay.  I’ll do that later.”  He smiled at her, gripping her hands again to stop her from cleaning.  “We should probably get you cleaned up now, though.  Hmm…”  He glanced around, and then started pulling her to the door.  “I think the ocean might be best for this.  The fish will appreciate the soup bits, if the seagulls don’t get to them first.”

She nodded, repressing her thoughts for the moment.  They were threatening to wander, and she needed to stay focused.

Steven opened the door and led her through it and down some steps.  From there, it was down a small hill to the sand, and he walked with her until they were right in front of the water.

“Here we are – the ocean!”  He turned to her.  “I can…uh…do…you need any help?”

She tilted her head at him.  He’d had some trouble with that sentence, but it wasn’t the way she’d expect a quartz to have trouble offering help to a lesser gem.  It was…more like he was embarrassed.  Why?  But she could manage on her own from here, so she shook her head and stepped into the water, wading until it reached her chest and dunking down to let it cover her.  Completely submerged, it was fairly easy to dislodge the bits of “soup” that stuck to her, though a few of the long strands stubbornly clung to her, and a few more had somehow gotten tangled in her hair.

She wasn’t sure how long she remained underwater, though it couldn’t have been too long.  It was only her hair that had given her any real trouble, and that was – thankfully – short.  She ran her hands through it several times to make sure she’d gotten everything, and then surfaced, looking around for Steven.  He wasn’t on the shoreline anymore, but he was nearby, calling out a word she didn’t recognize.

She waded out of the ocean and approached Steven, dispelling the water from her form as soon as her feet touched dry sand.  He smiled and quickly closed the distance between them, sprinting until he was in front of her.

“Are you feeling any better?”  He looked around.  “There was someone I wanted you to meet as soon as possible, but he doesn’t seem to be here right now.  I guess it can wait until later, but he can be a bit scary if you don’t know he’s safe…”

She nodded in answer to his question, though she wasn’t sure how honest an answer it was.  The depression over losing her Diamond and her home was there, vaguely, along with fear and a mess of other feelings she didn’t want to think on long enough to identify, but she mostly felt numb.  Not that it mattered – they couldn’t change how things had gone.  She was on Earth now, and she needed to focus on adjusting and learning her new duties, whatever those may be.  Maybe, once she’d developed a routine down here, she’d be able to work through everything that clouded her core.

“I don’t know when the gems will be back,” Steven said with a glance to the hut-like structure.  “I can’t wait for you to meet them.  Well…the ones you haven’t met already.  I know Pearl especially will be happy to see you.”  He stared at her.  “We should probably come up with your nickname before you meet the others.  I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and…you’re pretty much entirely blue, so why don’t we call you Blue for now?”

She nodded again, as if she had a real choice in the matter.  Steven was kind, so maybe she did, but it’d be hard to offer up a suggestion without a voice.  Besides, Blue was nice.  It reminded her of home, making it simultaneously painful and comforting.

“Great!”  Steven grinned and hugged her.  She froze, fighting back her fear as it threatened to push through the numb feeling and only succeeding when she reminded herself that it wasn’t a hostile action.  Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice.  “So, Blue, welcome to Beach City!  I want to show you all the best places, but that might have to wait for a bit.  We should stay near the temple until the gems get back, but we can do something fun to pass the time.  Do you like swimming?  Or we can play on the sand.  I also have games inside that we can play.  I’ll have to teach you, of course, but—“  He stopped talking as an intense glow emanated from the base, and he let go of her.

“Never mind; gems are back!”  He pulled back from the hug and grabbed her hand, leading her back up the hill and stairs.  “Come on!  I know it’s probably scary, but everyone’s nice in their own way, and they know everything that happened so they won’t see you as an enemy.”

Blue took a few deep breaths as they approached the door.  As a gem, breathing wasn’t necessary, but it was a little calming.  Steven had mentioned another Pearl.  Knowing this was the base of the Crystal Gems, she couldn’t stop herself wondering if he meant _that_ Pearl – the one that had fought alongside Rose Quartz.  There was more than one Pearl involved in the rebellion, but the Pearl that fought alongside Rose Quartz herself had been terrifying – she moved with a speed and grace the best gems in Blue Diamond’s court couldn’t mimic, and her swords cut effortlessly through everyone she encountered.  If only one Pearl had survived this long, it would have to be her.  Even the quartzes hadn’t been a match for her skill.

Then they were back inside.  Steven waved, and she stared ahead, inching back until he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.  In front of them – just stepping off the warp pad – were five gems: the fusion of the Ruby and Sapphire she’d once known, Lapis Lazuli, an oddly-shaped Amethyst, a Peridot, and the exact Pearl she’d been thinking about.  Her outfit was different from last time, but it was unmistakably her – few Pearls were oval-shaped or projected more than a couple colors on their bodies.

Of course, expecting her didn’t make her any less terrifying.  Steven gave her hand another squeeze, and she realized she’d started trembling.

“Hello, Pearl.”  The renegade smiled at her.  Worry seemed to pull at her eyes – a jarring sight compared to the focused, fierce glare she’d worn when she attacked the court.  “It’s good to have you with us.”

Blue dipped her head to the other Pearl, glad for the opportunity to avert her eyes.  A shudder passed through her, and she took a few more breaths.

“She goes by ‘Blue’ now,” Steven informed the group.  “Blue, this is Garnet – though you probably knew her.  You know Lapis, that’s Amethyst, and Peridot, and Pearl.”  He gestured to each gem in turn, and she dipped her head to the others as they were introduced, committing their names and faces to memory.  Amethyst and Garnet waved as their names were mentioned, and Lapis gave her a nod, but the Peridot simply stared from her to Steven before speaking.

“What happens now?”

Steven frowned.  “What do you mean?”

“Well, your…friend has recovered,” Peridot pointed out.  “Does she join the Crystal Gems now?”

“That will be up to her once she’s comfortable with life here,” Garnet responded.

“Oh!  Hold on!”  Steven let go of her hand and ran up the stairs to the upper level.   He returned a moment later and shoved a couple items – a thin, blank book and what seemed to be a writing stylus in her hands.  “You can’t talk, but you can still write, right?  This way, we can still throw words at each other!”

Blue turned her attention to the book.  This…was really considerate of him, but what was there to say?  She’d never communicated with words in any fashion before…but she’d been addressed and overheard conversations, and there was one appropriate reply to him that she could think of.  She scribbled down the characters and handed the book back to him.

Steven smiled wide and took the book eagerly, though the smile melted into a confused frown as he stared at the words.  She frowned as well.  Had she written them wrong?  Her hands were shaky…she could see how the writing would be difficult to decipher.

“Hey guys?”  He turned to the other gems.  “Can one of you translate this for me?”

The Peridot approached him and peered over his shoulder for a moment to read what Blue had written.  Then she turned to Steven.  “It says ‘thank you’.”

“Ah, okay!”  Steven smiled at her, and then turned to Blue.  “You’re welcome!”

The other Pearl joined them, giving her an apologetic smile.  “I’m sorry, Blue.  Steven hasn’t learned how to write in our language.  We’ve adopted the local alphabet, so that lesson hasn’t proven vital yet.”  Her smile widened.  “I’d be more than happy to teach you starting tomorrow, if you’d like.  Then Steven’s very considerate idea will work.”

Blue nodded, attempting only somewhat successfully to will her body to stop shaking.  Right now, the other Pearl was being kind, but Blue couldn’t get the memory of the rebellion’s attack out of her mind.  This Pearl could shatter her in a moment, if she wished.

“It was nice to meet you again, Blue.”  Garnet nodded to her.  “We have things to discuss, but make yourself comfortable for tonight.  I’m sure you’ve been through enough excitement today.”

Steven rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yeah…lesson learned – always listen to Garnet when there’s a dormant gem that could return at any second.”  He grinned at her.  “But hey, we’re all together now!  We can play games!  Peridot, Lapis, and Blue haven’t even seen Citchen Calamity yet, or we could get out the pack of cards…”

Lapis stared at him a moment, narrowed her eyes at the other gems, and then walked past them and through the door.

“Too soon?”  Steven called after her, waving as she took flight and disappeared somewhere above the window.  “All right, I’ll introduce you to my collection later!”  He turned back to the others.  “In the meantime, we can still play.”

“Sorry dude, it’s Puma night.”  Amethyst stretched and melted into formless light that grew and took a form much closer to what Blue pictured when she thought of quartzes.  She inched behind Steven as Amethyst flexed.

“Amethyst!”  The renegade Pearl shot the quartz a warning look.  “You’ll scare her!”

“She’s gotta get used to it sooner or later.”  Amethyst melted back into what Blue assumed was her usual form.  “I’m gonna go get ready.  Later, BP!”  She waved and sprinted toward the door behind the warp pad.  It opened – revealing a purple beach – and then closed behind Amethyst as she stepped inside.

“Well, since the welcoming committee is already breaking up, we may as well get started.”  Peridot glanced at Garnet and Pearl meaningfully, and the trio made their way to the opposite door.

“Awww…”  Steven pouted.  “You’re leaving, too?  Where are you going?”

“The barn,” Pearl answered.  “We need to see what resources we have available and come up with a plan.”

Blue wasn’t sure what they were planning for.  A possible attack from the rogue gems, perhaps?  Or were there other problems the Crystal Gems were facing?

“Keep safe, then.”  Steven frowned, but nodded, and the trio of gems made their way toward the beach and out of Blue’s line of sight.

“All right.  Guess it’s just us.”   Steven turned to her, his eyes lighting up and his disappointment seeming to disappear.  “Oh!  Blue, come on!”  Steven pulled her toward the stairs, and she followed him to the upper level.  “I should introduce you to video games so you’ll have something fun to do after my bedtime.”

She nodded – wondering briefly what a “bedtime” was – and followed him onto the upper level.  He motioned for her to sit on the edge of the cushion and she watched as he messed around with a couple machines in front of them.  She wasn’t sure what he was pulling her into, but she’d do her best to try to understand.  He and his allies had gone through a lot of trouble for her sake, and she wanted to do everything she could to make the effort worthwhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Blue...but the soup scene was far too fun to write.
> 
> Thanks for putting up with the wait, everyone, and thanks for all the kudos and bookmarks. I hope this thing can live up to everyone's expectations.


	3. Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue's Earth education begins, whether she's truly ready or not.

Barely a day had gone by, and already Blue had learned what she thought to be a dizzying amount of Earth knowledge.  Even more daunting was that she was learning of all the different _types_ of things she’d have to learn.  There were thousands of years of human history and progress to memorize, as well as contemporary customs and entertainment.  There were the names and functions of every Earth thing that saw daily use in Steven’s life that hadn’t existed during the war.  She’d have to learn the layout of the nearby human settlement – Beach City, it had been called – and figure out which humans were safe or not.

The Crystal Gems themselves seemed to have their own rules and habits, separate from anything to do with the humans.  She tried to organize everything in her head, but thinking so much about Earth turned her thoughts into a jumbled mess.  She couldn’t focus on familiar things, because reminding herself of what she’d had on Homeworld turned her emotions into a jumbled mess.  Either way, she found herself scared and confused.

Fortunately, Steven had come up with a distraction from her thoughts and feelings, even if only for a while.

The time between the gems leaving them alone in the house and Steven’s “bedtime” – apparently a designated segment of time set aside for his sleep cycle – was spent in front of his “TV”, holding a “game controller”.  Steven sat beside her, explaining the controls and objectives as she moved a little human – or an animal, or a spaceship, or an oddly-shaped block, or…she had no idea what that pink circle with a face was supposed to be – across the screen.

Most of the games he showed off had voices, but for those that didn’t, he’d read the dialog to her, giving each character its own voice and series of intonations.  It was…fun, she supposed, but also confusing.  He seemed happy to explain everything to her, but many of his explanations just confused her further.  He assured her that she’d understand more once she’d been on Earth for a while, but she wouldn’t hope for it.  Humans had confused her during the war, as well.

Of course, during the war she hadn’t been living near them…

Steven had intended for her to keep playing after he went to bed, but it felt weird to use his things while he slept, so she’d put the controller down once he was asleep and spent part of the night staring out the window at the stars.

Then some of the gems returned to the house.  The first was Lapis, who curled up beside Steven as soon as she was inside the room and then seemed to lose herself in thought.  Next had been Amethyst, who made herself something to eat before heading into the temple.  Then Pearl returned, and – with some coaxing on the renegade’s part – the two sat on the hill below the house to watch the sun rise.

During that time, Pearl spoke to her, talking about the rebellion and the beauty of Earth.  Her tone was gentle, almost delicate, like she thought Blue would break at any second.  Honestly, that may well be close to the truth.  She was trying to be brave and happy – Steven saved her, and the other gems seemed to be going out of their way to show her she was safe – but being around the Pearl that had slaughtered the members of her court like it was the easiest thing in the universe was terrifying, and she was pretty sure her fear was visible.  Despite her efforts, she couldn’t stop herself from trembling, and each movement felt stiff and unnatural.

Once the sun had risen, Steven joined them outside, on his way to the “mailbox”.  Blue followed Steven, who introduced her to a human named Jamie – apparently one of this settlement’s couriers.  Jamie seemed harmless and even friendly, greeting them both and joking with Steven before handing him a package and going on his way.  He seemed confused about her lack of a response until Steven explained that she couldn’t respond…that was another thing she’d have to get used to.  Back home, it hadn’t mattered.  Of course, back home practically everyone with any reason to interact with her knew that she was voiceless.

Soon after that, it was time for her first writing lesson.  The table she’d broken had been removed – dragged into Amethyst’s room, according to Steven – and the mess around it had been cleaned up.  In its place was a smaller, flimsy-looking table surrounded by cushions.  Pearl had her occupy one of the cushions during the lesson, and Pearl herself took the cushion next to Blue’s.  Blue thought the lessons would only involve the two of them, but Steven and Lapis wanted to help, and – after a few minutes – Amethyst decided to join in as well.  Tea had been set out for everyone, and Amethyst went out to get “donuts”, which turned out to be a kind of sticky, sickeningly sweet bread in the shape of a ring.  These were accompanied by lessons in biology she wasn’t sure she’d wanted to learn first-hand.  By the end of the lesson, she thought she at least understood how human letters worked, though it seemed odd to her that they’d chose to represent sounds rather than images.

The next few hours were spent helping Pearl clean up and trying not to think about what the tall, slender gem was capable of.  She wasn’t successful in that, but at least she was still able to make productive use of her time…until the house was properly tidy.  At that point, she was at a loss.  Steven explained that she could do whatever she wanted when there wasn’t a mission – she didn’t even have to help clean – but what she wanted was a task, or at least told where to stand.  She wondered how Pearl managed this lifestyle for thousands of years, and how long it had taken her to adjust.  She had ways of asking, but even the thought of communicating directly with her made Blue’s hands shake so badly she doubted she’d be able to write anything legible.  With nothing else to do, she’d settled on sitting beside Steven to watch him play the game Jamie had delivered and try to absorb all the knowledge she’d gained today.  She figured the main objective of the day had been completed, and that the time between now and tomorrow’s activities would be spent in peace.

She was about to be proven wrong.

Eventually, there was a knock at the door.  Through the glass, she could see a young human girl with long hair tied back in a braid.

“Connie!”  Steven set his game aside and sprinted over to let the girl inside.  Blue followed him, bowing to her as she entered the house.  “Connie, look – Blue’s back!”

The girl nodded and turned to Blue, smiling.  “I see.  It’s good to finally meet you, Blue.”

Blue nodded.  If this was a friend of Steven’s, it was good to meet her as well.

“Connie, you’re right on time.”  Pearl approached the girl, smiling, and Blue turned to her.  Time?  For what?  But Pearl’s next words answered her question.  “Blue will be joining us for sword practice today.  I want her to see your progress before I start her on the basics.”

Steven’s eyes lit up and he turned to Pearl.  “You’re teaching Blue to sword fight?”

Pearl nodded.  “If she takes to it, but we’re going to try.”  She turned to Blue then, and Blue was grateful that her hair hid most of her expression.  “She needs to learn how to fight if she’s going to be living here.”

Blue felt her throat tighten.  She didn’t need to breathe, but the sensation was painful – even more so when she tried to swallow it down.  She inched closer to Steven, feeling safer in his presence.

Steven grinned and hugged her.  “It’ll be okay.  Pearl’s an awesome teacher.”

That wasn’t what she was worried about, but she returned the hug.

Steven squeezed tighter.  “You don’t have to be scared, you know.  Nothing bad’s going to happen.”

“Oh, Lapis.  Were you wanting to come with us?”

Blue turned toward the warp pad at Pearl’s question, blinking when she saw Lapis standing on it, seemingly waiting for them.  She hadn’t even noticed the other gem move from her spot earlier.

Lapis’ gaze flicked from Pearl to Blue.  Her expression was harsh, though it had softened slightly as it tried to meet her eyes.  Beside her, Steven smiled.

“It’ll be like a training party!” he exclaimed.  He grabbed her left hand with his right and led her and Connie toward the warp pad.  Pearl followed them, activating the warp as soon as the group was assembled.

Blue wasn’t exactly a stranger to the concept of warp pads – they were among the few ancient technologies Homeworld still utilized on a regular basis.  She’d had very little experience in actually using them, however.  Until recently, she rarely left Blue Diamond’s sight, and the warp pads could barely manage the diamonds’ forms.  They’d been designed for use by smaller gems – mainly scouts and technicians.  It was a very unsettling feeling, being suspended in a tube of pale blue light, surrounding by gems and humans that had been her enemies only a short time ago.

At least it didn’t last long.  The light disappeared after a few moments, and Blue found herself on a ledge above the clouds.  Behind her were two paths leading up to some kind of entry way, with the symbol of the diamond authority embedded in the wall below.  That was odd.  If the Crystal Gems had easy access to this place, shouldn’t the symbol be smashed?

“Hey Blue, it’s this way!”

Blue jumped at the sudden noise and turned to the source.  Steven was waving at her from halfway up the second flight of stairs.  Cringing, she sprinted up to meet him, and the two made their way onto the main part of an arena.  Everyone else was already there – Lapis was seated on the lowest level of the stands.  Pearl and Connie stood on the main floor of the arena, facing each other.  Steven practically flew down to join them, while Blue took a seat near Lapis to watch.

Once everyone was in place, Pearl turned to her.  “Blue, I want you watch everything carefully.  It’ll be good for you to know what to expect in a couple years’ time.”

Blue nodded and attempted to swallow back the hard lump that was forming in her throat.

Pearl stared at her a moment longer and then turned her attention back to Steven and Connie.  “Are you two ready?”

Steven and Connie voiced their assent.  Pearl focused, projecting several hologram versions of herself.

Then, all was chaos.

The holograms surrounded Steven and Connie.  Each generated a sword in their hands, and – at Pearl’s signal – they started to move in on their opponents.  It was hard to tell what was going on with so many moving bodies around, though she caught glimpses of the fight – Steven shielding Connie from attack, Connie slashing at a hologram that was attempting to sneak up on the pair, Steven using the shield to knock an opponent back and provide an opening for his friend to finish it off, and the two working together to overwhelm their foes.

As time wore on, the clones became fewer and fewer, and Pearl herself joined the fight.  Seeing the renegade in action forced her mind back to the day she’d attacked the court, and she tried – unsuccessfully – to suppress a shudder.

Soon, all the holograms were defeated.  Blue’s hands clenched on the hem of her skirt, and she winced at every powerful swing and barely dodged blow.

Then there was a hand on her arm.  Her body jerked at the sudden touch, and she glanced over at Lapis.  The darker blue gem had her eyes on her, though her head was still angled toward the fight.  She looked a little more like herself now – more present.

“Calm down,” Lapis cautioned.  “If you’re getting this worked up already, you won’t be able to concentrate.”

Blue took a few breaths, though they did little to help.

“Learning how to fight is scary when it’s not your designated purpose, but you’re going to be safe,” Lapis spoke again.  “I’ll be making sure of that.  Steven, too.”

Blue nodded, and Lapis withdrew her hand.  The darker gem’s words did calm her somewhat, though she couldn’t help but wonder why she – Lapis – would be going out of her way ensure Blue’s safety.  This was the same gem that had attacked her on sight back on the ship.  But then, that had been because she thought Blue was going to hurt Steven, hadn’t it?  Maybe he was the reason.

The battle ended, and Steven hurried to join the blue gems in the stands.  He sat down on Lapis’ other side, and Connie sat beside him.

Pearl walked up to the rest of the group, her gaze locked on Blue.  “Your turn.”

Blue took a final deep breath, stood, and joined Pearl.  Her thoughts started to wander back thousands of years ago again, but she did her best to force them down.  With Steven present, she was safe.

“All right.  First, we begin with a bow.”  Pearl bowed to demonstrate, and Blue imitated her.

“Good.  Now, we…”  She trailed off, staring at Blue, and Blue tilted her head.  What was wrong?  But then Pearl took a step forward and Blue flinched as a pale hand reached toward her, brushing her bangs back.  The world around her brightened, and she blinked to let her eyes adjust.

“These swords have the potential to slice through our bodies,” Pearl explained.  “You’ll want to make sure you can see well enough to avoid them.”

Blue nodded and formed a headband around her hairline, keeping her bangs in place.  Pearl pulled her hand back and went to retrieve a sword, and Blue let out a shaky breath, reminding herself to stay calm.  Soon, Pearl returned, and the hilt of a sword was placed in Blue’s hand.  Pearl adjusted Blue’s grip on the weapon and then circled her, adjusting her pose so that her feet were farther apart and the sword was pointed forward.

“Now hold your stance.”  Pearl circled her again, scrutinizing her.  Blue did her best to keep herself perfectly still.  The pose felt uncomfortable and unnatural, and the urge to pull her limbs inward and straighten her back was hard to ignore.

She seemed to have managed, or at least done passably well.  Pearl gave her a nod and stopped circling behind her.  “Connie, why don’t you come over here and assist me?  I think it’d be best for Blue to learn with a thinking opponent.”

Connie walked over, and Blue turned to the human, suppressing a frown.  She was an impressive fighter, but humans were still fragile, weren’t they?

Connie returned her frown with a smile, falling into the same stance she’d been forced in.  On her, it looked natural and comfortable, and Blue wondered if practice would get here to that point.

“Excellent.  Now we can begin.”  Pearl leaned over, gripping Blue’s right arm with hers.  Blue felt herself trembling again, but an encouraging shout from Steven calmed her.

“Keep your eyes on your opponent,” Pearl instructed.  “The moment you’re distracted could be the moment you’re killed.  Relax, but don’t let your guard down even for a second.”

If she was thinking about being killed, how could she relax?  But Pearl knew what she was talking about, so Blue tried to do as ordered.  This was just a training exercise, at least.  Maybe relaxing would come with experience?

Pearl guided her hand through a few basic sword swings, and Connie blocked each one effortlessly, putting Blue at ease about her accidentally hurting the girl.  Pearl urged her forward and then took a few steps back, reminding her to keep her posture low and her eyes trained on her opponent.  Connie moved back to dodge, and Blue found herself stepping forward to close the distance.  Their practice continued, trading swings and dodges.

And…this wasn’t so bad.  The movements were almost like a dance.  She could dance – she had been dancing flawlessly for Blue Diamond for thousands of years – she could do this.

Then a shadow fell over the arena.  Connie held her sword still to block Blue’s blade and forced both blades down, ending the practice.  Looking up, she saw what could only be described as a monster.  It was a muddy gray color and somewhat resembled one of the birds from this world, only it was much larger than any bird she’d seen, and seemed to be covered in red armor.  Its underside was lined with several pairs of footless legs, and a long feeler sprouted from the top of each of its two heads.  A glittering red gem on the monster’s chest caught her attention, and the world around her seemed to freeze.  There was only one thing the presence of a gem on the monster’s body could mean.

“Why _now_?”  Pearl’s gem glowed, and a spear rose from its depths.  She grabbed the spear and stepped between the monster and Blue as it landed on the edge of the arena.  “Blue, stay back.”

Blue nodded and backed off, keeping hold of the sword just in case she needed it – not that it, or she, could do much good.  The monster screeched and snapped, and she cringed as one of the beaks narrowly missed Steven.  Lapis flew up, landing on one of the monster’s heads, and wrapped her wings around its neck.  Steven distracted the other head so Pearl and Connie could run around its sides and attack its legs.  Blue trembled as she watched the fight, unwanted thoughts forcing their way to the front of her mind despite her efforts to keep herself in the present.  Pearl’s display of skill and grace was terrifying enough, but wasn’t this a corrupted gem?  Her own gem had been corrupted only a short time ago.  Steven healed her, but what if he hadn’t?  If she’d been stuck on Earth, that could well have been her that they were fighting.  The fact that it wasn’t did little to comfort her.  Whoever this had been had likely been this monster for close to six thousand years.  She didn’t want to think on what that must have been like.

The battle continued in front of her.  She looked from the gems and monster to the arena entrance.  Should she try to find the other gems?  Maybe, if she knew they’d be home, but they could be anywhere.  Part of her itched to get out there and help – wasn’t that her duty now?  But she’d been told to stay back, and the other part of her was in no real hurry to put her life in danger.

She glanced down at the sword she’d been given, and then at the monster as its beak slammed against Steven’s shield.  Maybe there was a way she could help and still stay out of danger.

She released her grip on the sword, letting it rest on her palms.  She then watched the monster, waiting until it stretched out one of its necks.  When that happened, she concentrated, her gem glowing as she focused on the sword.

Then the sword shot forward, her will guiding it to and through the monster’s neck.  She cringed at the distorted cry as the sword impaled its target, but it was nothing next to the silence afterward as the head fell limp and the beak twitched at random.  She shuddered, trying to will the sound and sight out of her memory.  It wasn’t the most graphic thing she’d seen – she’d witnessed Blue Diamond’s soldiers doing battle against the rebellion – but it was one thing to watch and quite another to participate.  Whether she’d done the right thing by helping or not, she felt sick and wrong.  How did the others handle this on a regular basis?

There was a cheer and a loud _poof_ , and she glanced back to the fight to see the monster gone.  She waited where she was until Steven waved her over, and then approached the group in time to see Pearl pick up a glittering red gem and bubble it.  The gem disappeared, and she frowned.  Where had it gone?  What was going to happen to it?

“Not the way I’d planned on ending today’s lesson…”  Pearl sighed.  “But I suppose we’ve done enough for now.  Let’s go back.”  She started up toward the arena exit, and the rest of the group started to follow.

Blue sprinted until she’d caught up with Steven and tapped him on the shoulder.

Steven smiled at her, though his expression faltered when he made eye contact.  “What’s up, Blue?”

She projected a hologram of the gem being bubbled and disappearing.

“Ah, don’t worry.”  His smile returned.  “It’s safe in the temple.  Once we get back, I’ll explain what’s going on.”

Blue nodded, pausing in her walking so that Steven moved ahead of her and then following the group back to the warp pad.  What they’d done with the gem still bothered her, but she trusted Steven, and she knew he wouldn’t let anything happen that wasn’t for the corrupted gem’s benefit.  After all, he’d done what was best for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY this took so long. This chapter gave me a lot of trouble and went through about three rewrites and heavy changes aside from that (That long summary at the beginning is me condensing nine pages of normal boring life). I'm still not sure it's the best it can be, but - for now - it's the best I can make it, so here we go.
> 
> So yeah, thanks for your patience. I will try to get the next chapter up faster, but we'll see if it gives me trouble like this one did or if the hard part's over.


	4. Day on the Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Amethyst try to introduce the newer gems to Beach City, but then something happens.

Life was slowly falling into a routine.  Blue was grateful for this – a routine meant she usually knew what to do with herself, which meant far less time standing around uselessly.  Granted, each day was a bit different, but there were certain patterns that usually rang true.  Most of the day – just about all of it that wasn’t taken up by a writing lesson with Pearl – was typically spent following Steven around and helping with tasks as he let her.  So far, this meant a lot of cleaning up after him and watching TV, though there was one morning where he’d gone out to the beach for a swim instead of staring at a screen.

When he left for the city for whatever reason, she’d stick close to Lapis until he got back.  This usually meant sitting beside her on the sofa or bed and waiting quietly.  The darker blue gem was lost in her own thoughts and memories more often than not, it seemed, but Blue was more comfortable with her than the Crystal Gems.  Everyone was kind to her in their own way, and she felt bad for being scared of Steven’s team, but it was hard to look at Pearl in particular and not remember the violence she was capable of.  Repeated contact with her made things a bit easier, but she’d need a lot more time than she’d had so far to feel truly safe. 

Today was a particularly slow one.  Lapis had gone somewhere in the middle of the night without telling anyone where she was going or when she’d be back.  Amethyst was also off somewhere, and Garnet, Peridot, and Pearl were still working in the barn, so Blue and Steven had the house to themselves.  Jamie hadn’t even come by today, which disappointed her more than she thought it would.  She’d only encountered him a few times, but the human was kind, easy-going, and patient – quite a lot like Steven himself – and meeting with him had become one of her favorite parts of her new routine.  Without that, the day almost felt like it hadn’t started.

Almost.

When Pearl returned for the writing lesson, she brought Peridot and a few human things Blue didn’t recognize with her.  Things had been delayed long enough for Pearl and Peridot to move their items into the temple – helped by Amethyst once the purple gem entered the room and saw what was going on – but then the lesson proceeded as normal.

After the lesson, Blue started to tidy things up – throwing out Steven’s empty soda can and the plates he and Amethyst had eaten from while Pearl made her way to the warp pad.  She’d been through this enough that she was semi-confident she knew what she was doing, and Steven would be there to correct her if she missed a step or did something wrong.

“You’re not coming.”

Pearl’s voice distracted Blue, and she stopped to look toward the warp pad, her right hand resting lightly on the towel she’d been about to grab to wipe off the table.  Peridot was standing in front of the pad, glaring up at Pearl while Pearl was stared down at her, one hand out to stop the smaller gem.

“Why not?” Peridot protested.  “You need me to help—“

“We’re almost finished,” Pearl interrupted.  “And Garnet can probably handle what’s left.  The only reason I’m going back is in case she needs an extra pair of hands.”  She stepped back, her feet landing on the middle of the warp pad.  “We should both be back home in only a few hours.  In the meantime, you should relax.”

“Yeah!”  Steven all but tackled the green gem, his arms wrapped tightly around her.  Blue smiled at the scene – he really was a loving gem.  “You’ve earned a break after everything you’ve done.”  He grinned at her and Amethyst.  “We all have – we should go do something fun!”

“What did you have in mind?” Amethyst glanced at Steven out of her one visible eye, her arms crossed.

“Well…Blue hasn’t seen Beach City yet,” Steven responded.  “We can show her some of the really cool places – like the arcade, or Fish Stew Pizza, or Beach Citywalk Fries, and then there’s the warehouse, or the arcade—“

“You already said that, dude,” Amethyst pointed out.

“Huh?  Oh.”  Steven grinned at her.  “That’s because it’s just that cool!  Oh, and there’s Funland!  Mr. Smiley said I was banned, but he says that all the time.  He usually lets me in anyway after a week or two.”  His eyes lit up.  “Oh!  And we can take her to meet my dad!”  He beamed at the thought, but then his smile faltered.  “A trip this epic would be a lot nicer with everyone coming along…”  Then he smiled again.  “But that just means we’ll have to do it again later!”  He gave Peridot a quick squeeze and rushed to the door.  “Come on!  If we hurry, we can eat twice before everyone closes up!”

Amethyst and Peridot shared a glance – Amethyst looking amused and Peridot confused – and then followed Steven to the door.  Blue stared after them, torn between keeping near Steven and the chore she’d assigned herself.  During her hesitation, Steven held the door open for the other two gems – who headed outside and down the steps – and then turned back toward her.

“Come on, Blue!”  He waved her over, and she abandoned the towel, sprinting to catch up.

Amethyst and Peridot waited for them on the beach, and the group started walking around the cliff.  For a moment or two, the walk was uneventful, but then a shadow passed overhead and Lapis landed on the sand in front of them.

“Lapis!” Steven grinned at her.  “Perfect timing!”

“What are you four up to?”  Lapis glanced over Steven’s head at the assembled group.

“We’re off to have some fun in the city,” Steven explained.  “You should come join us!  It’ll be even better with you around!”

Lapis’ gaze fell on Blue for a moment, and then sighed.  “I guess someone has to make sure you don’t overstimulate Blue on her first outing.”

Steven’s grin widened.  “Woo!  Now we have a full party!”  He resumed leading the gems down the beach toward a row of human buildings.

Lapis waited until he’d passed her, and then fell into step beside Blue.  Blue turned to her, but she just shook her head and walked silently, so Blue watched the area ahead of them instead.  As they walked, more buildings came into view, and the cliff beside then descended into nothing.  Soon after that, they came to a building with a large donut fixed to its roof, and a short blond girl sprinted outside, waving to them.

“Hey, Sadie!”  Steven stopped to wave at the girl, and the gems stopped behind him.

“Hi, Steven.  Not—“ Sadie’s voice trailed off as her eyes locked on Lapis.  Her friendly smile melted into a worried frown, and she took a step back.  “Isn’t that the person that stole the ocean two summers ago?”

Steven stepped between Sadie and Lapis.  “Yeah, but it’s okay!  We’re all friends now.  Peridot, Lapis, and Blue are all fairly new to Earth, so I’m showing them around the city.”

 Sadie still looked uncertain, but she nodded slowly.  “Okay…  Well, have fun.”

“Thanks!”  Steven smiled at her and waved again.  “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Yeah…sure.”  She waved and slowly backed through the door into the building.  “See you tomorrow.”  She closed the door and Steven led the group onward.

“Steven?” Lapis called after they were past the building.

Steven glanced back at her.  “What’s up?”

“Maybe this was a bad idea…”  Lapis glanced back where the girl had gone.

“Awww, it’s fine,” Steven responded.  “They’ve gotta get used to you sometime, and then they’ll see that you’re a good person.”

Amethyst laughed and moved past Blue, wrapping an arm around Lapis’ shoulders.  The darker blue gem stiffened at the touch, but the purple gem didn’t seem to notice.  “And even if they don’t, it’ll be fun to terrorize them every now and again.  Maybe you can score us some free donuts and pizza!”

“Amethyst…”  Steven frowned at her.  “That’s not nice.”

“Eh.”  Amethyst shrugged, her hand falling away from Lapis.  “Fun, though.”

“You shouldn’t scare people,” Steven admonished.  “Well…not unless it’s horror movie night.  Oh!  Here!”  He approached another building – this one with a counter built into the front wall.  “Hey, Peedee!”

“Hey, Steven,” a boy a little taller than Steven approached the counter, his gaze drifting over the group.  “Uh…hello.”

“You know Amethyst.”  Steven gestured to the purple gem – who gave a lazy wave – and then to each of the others.  “That’s Peridot, and Blue, and Lapis.  They’re new here, so I’m showing them around.”

“It’s nice to meet you…”  The boy sounded sincere, but also very uncertain and nervous.  Was that how he was normally, or was it because of their group?  From what she’d seen of Steven’s team so far, she couldn’t imagine the humans here had much gem contact other than Steven himself.

Steven didn’t seem worried about the boy, so it must be normal for him.  He leaned against the counter.  “We’re actually—“

“It’s you!”  A thickly-built man rushed to the counter, shoving the boy aside.  His wide eyes were locked on Peridot, an expression of horror frozen on his face.  “Peedee, call the mayor!  He needs to know the eco-terrorist is _here_!  The koalas must be protected!”

He reached out then, and Peridot let out a sound between a yelp and a squeak as she backed away.  Lapis’ wings sprouted from her gem, and she looked torn between attacking the man or flying off.  Blue backed off several steps, getting out of the way in case a fight broke out, and Peridot moved behind her, clinging to her shoulders and trembling.

“Hey, stop!”  Steven stepped between everyone.  “No one’s in danger!  The koalas are fine!”  He turned to the man.  “We’re just here to get some fries.”

Ronaldo looked from Peridot to Steven and back, conflicted.  Then he noticed Lapis, and his eyes widened.  With another look at Steven, he backed off.  “I suppose I can let you go for today…but keep an eye on them, Steven.”

“Hey Ronaldo!” a gruff voice called from somewhere in the building.  “You have a job to do!”

Ronaldo reluctantly moved back, but then pulled his phone out of his pocket.  The phone flashed, and Ronaldo mumbled something Blue didn’t understand – she’d have to ask Steven to define “blog” for her later – before disappearing from view.  Peedee took his place, wearing the same disgruntled expression she’d seen on many of her fellow Pearls when their masters weren’t looking.

“All right, Steven, what’ll you have?” The boy asked with a final look in the direction where Romaldo had disappeared.

“Hmm…”  Steven turned to Amethyst.  “What do you think?  Will an order each of homestyle fries, curly fries, waffle fries, crinkle-cuts, potato wedges, and fry bits be enough for the five of us?”

“Eh, maybe…” Amethyst responded.  “Considering Lapis and Peridot barely eat.  But…better make it two each, just in case.”

“Yeah, good idea.  That way, there’ll be enough for Dad.  He probably hasn’t made it to lunch yet.”  He turned to Peedee, handing him a slips of green paper.  “You got all that?”

“No problem.”  Peedee took the paper and put it somewhere she couldn’t see, handing Steven another slip of paper and a few coins in exchange.  “I’d better help Ronaldo with the fryers.”  He disappeared again, and Steven turned toward the gems.

“This might take a few minutes,” he informed them.  “If you guys want, you can go on ahead to the car wash.  I’ll catch up once our food’s done.”

Peridot peered inside the building warily.  “I think I’d rather stay here until we’re all ready.”

Lapis leaned against the wall of the building.  “I doubt any of us are in a hurry.”

Blue nodded – she’d rather be near Steven in a place like this.

Amethyst laughed.  “Looks like you’re stuck with us.”

Steven smiled at her.  “I’m not ‘stuck’ with anybody.  You’re my friends!  Although…this would be better with Garnet, Pearl, and Connie, but Garnet and Pearl are busy and Connie’s in school…”

Blue stared at him, head tilted.  School?  What was that?  But he seemed too preoccupied to answer, or maybe he didn’t know.

It didn’t take as long as she thought for the fries to be done.  Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot passed the time talking about what she assumed was Earth stuff, leaving Lapis to her thoughts and Blue struggling to understand what the others were saying.  When Peedee placed a few bags on the counter, the conversation ended abruptly and Steven took the bags, thanking the boy.  After that, he led them back the way they’d come and turned left at the donut building, walking along a wide road.

“The car wash is all the way at the other end of the street,” Steven explained to her.  “It’s not that long a walk, though.  We’ll be there in no time, and then you can see how cool my dad is!”

Blue nodded, her gaze drifting over the road.  To their left was another line of buildings of various size, while the right contained a mostly empty grassy area that rose to form the cliff that housed the temple.  Was this road the very edge of the human settlement, or did their territory extend along the top of the hill itself?  The lighthouse – that was what they’d called it, wasn’t it? – was human-made, but so was Steven’s house.  The gems here had adopted a lot of human practices, so why not architecture?

There was a sharp jab in her shoulder and she winced, turning to see Peridot staring intently at her.

“Steven was talking to you,” the green gem stated.

Blue cringed and dipped her head to Peridot and then to Steven.  She hadn’t even heard him!

“It’s okay.”  He gave her a reassuring smile.  “I just wanted to know if you’re okay.  You looked lost.”

Blue nodded, keeping her head lowered.  Steven stared at her for a moment, but then turned his attention back to the road.  “We’ll be at the car wash soon.  You can almost see it – it’ll be the building on the right.”

Blue stared where he was pointing.  Up ahead, a corner of the plateau near the beach seemed to have been carved away, and an L-shaped building was nestled in the leveled space.  A large, middle-aged man lounged in front of the building, next to a large object – well, larger than her – that she couldn’t identify.

“Dad!”  Steven ran up to the man, who stood and grinned.

“Hey, Schtu-ball!”  He bent down to hug Steven.  “What’cha got there?”

“I brought us lunch!”  Steven held up the bags, and then glanced behind him at the gems.  “I’ve been showing Peridot, Lapis, and Blue around the city, and we picked up some fries.  I figured we could all eat together.”

“In that case, I should get us some plates or napkins…and maybe a blanket to set everything on.  Be right back.”  He opened the back of the large object and seemed to rummage around inside.  Blue folded her hands together in front of her, itching to help but knowing she’d be next to useless.

Fortunately, Steven wouldn’t be useless, and he joined his dad in getting things ready.  Once a blanket had been spread on the ground, everyone sat down along the edges, with the food in the middle.  She shared a side with Lapis, while Steven and his dad sat opposite them, and Amethyst sat to her right and Peridot to her left.

“So, where have you guys been so far?” Steven’s dad asked as they started eating.  Or…as he, Steven, and Amethyst started eating.  Blue was happy to go along with Steven’s plans, but she wasn’t sure about trying the food herself.  The donuts she’d had last time weren’t _awful_ , but taste was an odd sensation to get used to, and the sweetness had been far too intense for her liking.

“Just Beach Citywalk Fries so far,” Steven answered after his own mouthful.  “We got a bit of a late start, but I thought we’d stay here and keep you company for a while, and maybe try the arcade and then pizza once these have digested a bit.  Maybe hit up Cone ‘N’ Son after since it’s right there…”

The man laughed.  “That’s quite a plan, buddy.”

Steven nodded.  “Yeah, well…we don’t have to make it to every place today.  Missing out on something just means we can do this again some other day – maybe with Garnet and Pearl.  Pearl doesn’t normally like to eat, but I’ve been able to get her to enjoy pizza a few times, and I’m sure I can find something in town she’ll like to do.”

Amethyst turned to him.  “Why not just take her to the park.  She likes nature.”

Steven’s eyes lit up.  “Yeah…you know, I don’t think I’ve even been there lately.”  He shook his head.  “I’ll have to work that out later, though.”

Steven leaned over then, grabbing a few of each type of fry and placing them on a napkin in front of Peridot.  He then did the same for Blue and Lapis.  “You guys should really try these before they get cold, and you can have more of the ones you like.”

Lapis snorted and held a fry up to stare at it.  “What even are these things?”

“They’re potatoes, mostly,” Steven answered.  “Fried in…hmmm, I’m actually not sure what kind of oil Fryman uses.  It’s really good, though.”

“Oh, just try it!”  Amethyst exclaimed.  “They’re not gonna kill you or anything.”

Lapis glared at her, stared at the fry for another moment or two, and then stuffed it in her mouth.  She made a face that Blue couldn’t interpret, slowly chewed and swallowed, and then ate two more.

Amethyst laughed.  “See?  You like them!”

Lapis glared again at the purple gem – which only made Amethyst laugh harder – and then resumed eating.  Peridot, who had also been watching the darker blue gem, started eating at that moment, and Blue figured she may as well do the same.

And…they weren’t bad.  Not sweet at all.  She didn’t know what this flavor was, but it was mild enough to avoid overwhelming her senses.  The other types seemed to taste about the same, for the most part, though the crunchier textures of the curly fries and the bits threw her off a bit.

Steven’s dad chuckled.  “Looks like they’re a hit, buddy.”

“Everybody likes French fries!”  She didn’t need to look at Steven to know that he was smiling.  “Well…except for Pearl, but there’s hope for her yet.”

Amethyst laughed.

The man nodded.  “Yeah…I don’t think I’ve seen Pearl enjoy anything made by humans.”

“She enjoyed the play Jamie and I put on about a year ago,” Steven replied.  “…That she rewrote, but it was about humans so it counts, right?”

Amethyst stopped eating at Steven’s comment.  “Wait, Pearl wrote a play?  When was this?”

“She _re_ wrote a play,” Steven corrected.  “It was back when we were still searching for Peridot.”

“Oh…”  All humor left Amethyst’s face.  “That time…  I try not to think about it.”

Peridot nodded.  “Same.”

“At least everything worked out,” Steven responded.  “Now Peridot’s one of us, the cluster isn’t going to destroy the Earth, and Garnet and Pearl are friends again, right?”

Blue turned to Steven, who didn’t seem to realize he’d said something confusing.  What was the cluster?  Did she really want to know?  Was it even her place to ask?

The fries were finished in silence – mostly by Steven, his dad, and Amethyst.  Once everything was cleared away, the human set up…something, and music started to play.  It was weird – she couldn’t describe it, but it was nothing like what played in Blue Diamond ‘s court – it was a bit faster, and a lot more…well…organic was the only world she could think of.  Even as different as it was, she found herself struggling to remain seated.  Memories of dancing to entertain Blue Diamond or their guests rose to the front of her mind – memories that were normally pleasant, but currently painful.  That was another thing she’d never experience again.

“Blue.”

Lapis’ voice was gentle, but she still found herself jumping at the sound of it, her head snapping in the darker blue gem’s direction.  Lapis was standing now, holding her hand out to her in an invitation to dance.

“If you wanted to,” Lapis added.

Blue nodded and stood, taking Lapis’ hand.  Lapis pulled her to an empty area and started to lead her in a circle, slowly twirling her around as they moved across the ground.  Blue matched her steps, thousands of years of experience leading her body through the motions without needing conscious thought.

“Peridot, come on!” Blue heard Steven yell.  She couldn’t easily see what Steven and Peridot were doing, but she could hear Amethyst laughing and cheering Peridot on.

Then Lapis twirled her around and dipped her.  Her hair fell away from her eyes and she found herself staring up into the sky.  Something moved in her peripheral vision and she turned to get a better look, suppressing a shiver as she stared.  That…looked a lot like a homeworld ship.  Not one of Blue Diamond’s, though she couldn’t tell anything else about it from this distance.  It was somewhere beyond the town, but seemed to be headed in their direction.

She was pulled upright, and Lapis broke away, staring up where Blue had been looking.  Her shoulders tensed and her gem glowed faintly.  Blue watched her, wondering if she’d seen the same thing.

“What’s up?” Amethyst approached them, looking confused.

“Blue saw something,” Lapis responded, her eyes widening as she spotted it.  “That looks—“

“That’s one of Yellow Diamond’s scouters!”  Peridot’s voice was almost a whimper as she joined them, her gaze locked on the ship.  She inched closer to Steven – who had also joined them – and Amethyst gave her a light pat on the shoulder.

“It’ll be okay,” Steven tried to assure her.  “I don’t think it can see us yet.”

“It’s moving toward the temple,” Amethyst stated.  “If we hurry, we can make it there before it does.”

Steven nodded.  “Uh, Dad, we—“

“I know.”  The man waved them off.  “Just be careful, all right?”

“Thanks, Dad.  We’ll come right back if we can!”  Steven charged down the road, gesturing for them to follow.  Blue waited a moment for Amethyst – who charged after Steven, dragging Peridot behind her – to get ahead of her and then fell in behind them, while Lapis took to the air and passed the group, taking the clearest path to the temple.  She suppressed a shudder and focused on Steven rather than the thoughts running through her mind.  What they were doing went against every instinct that had been programmed into her, but this was her life now – she had to be ready for unknown dangers like this at a moment’s notice.  She just hoped everything would turn out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I changed the total chapters for this thing. This chapter ended up split into two, and there was an idea that wanted to be added in after that wasn't willing to wait for a one-shot.
> 
> Second, this should have been posted on Saturday. Once I get the first draft done everything else normally goes by quick and easy. Unfortunately, I came down with strep throat and that's affected my ability to focus or be awake for an entire day like I want. I'm taking medicine for it, so it should - hopefully - go away soonish.
> 
> Third, I am still doing Lapis' story sometime. I meant to alternate, but she refuses to talk to me right now. I think she wants Blue to have her piece done first, especially since Lapis has another chaptered fic coming after this and a few one-shots. Bleh.
> 
> Fourth, I like Ronaldo. I mean absolutely no offense by his portrayal (or my portrayal of any other character that may have traits that fall outside of what is considered "normal"), and he will have a positive role in the series eventually.
> 
> Fifth, a heads up - these next two months will be BUSY. At the end of June, I'll be heading out-of-state for my annual visit to my family. We'll be back home around July 7-8, but I tend to be exhausted for a week or two after the trip. For all of June, my focus will be on cleaning up my living space as much as possible (due to illnesses, I've fallen behind on that), buying things for the trip, getting everything packed, etc. I'm also trying to get notes, world-building, outlines, and all that good stuff ready for another attempt at an original story I've been trying to write off-and-on for a few years now. I will still be writing this as much as I can - I'm not giving up on my series until I run out of ideas for it - but "as much as I can" is probably going to be much slower than my normal writing pace. Right now, I want to say that I'll try to get at least 250 words in per day (my normal pace is five sessions of 1,000 words weekly, unless I finish the chapter before reaching 5K), but that might be too ambitious with everything else going on, and I'll be taking the rest of this week off while I recover from strep. Whatever happens, I do want to get at least a chapter or two done in the next six weeks or so (more would be awesome, but not something to expect). Thank you for your patience, and I'm really sorry about all this.


	5. Conflicts and Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ship is dealt with and Blue tries to handle life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so bad at titles and summaries.
> 
> Sorry this was so late - this month's been hectic and I've been chronically exhausted and also sick. With the trip coming up, my days have been filled with cleaning and shopping, and I've started therapy for some emotional issues, and I've been sick on top of it all. In two days I leave home and venture way out of state (it's a two day trip), and I'm really lucky I was able to get this written in time to post before then. The rest of my day will be spent in town going to about a hundred different stores for supplies and the like, and I still have more cleaning, and some misc. stuff to take care off. Blehh...
> 
> Also...it doesn't help that I have Undertale and Stardew Valley now. XD
> 
> I will try to work on the next chapter while at my parents' place, but we'll see how that goes. I'm not counting on it - I have a hard time focusing when there's a lot going on, and there will be so much stuff to cram in and a very short amount of time to do it in... Just please know that this story is not and will not be abandoned. This is the busiest time of year for me - once we're about in the middle of July, things will probably go back to normal.
> 
> I am honestly no longer sure how many chapters this fic will have. My ideas keep reorganizing themselves. It'll probably be in the 7-10 range, though.
> 
> Also, please let me know if anything in this seems off - both me and my beta (who is also my fiancee) have a lot going on, as stated above, so it's possible we've missed a thing or two.
> 
> I think that's everything. My brain's not functioning all the way, but that's why the edit buttons exist.

“Do you think they noticed that the cluster isn’t forming?”  Pearl asked as the group watched the ship fly steadily closer to the temple.  She and Garnet had met everyone else on the beach in front of the house, and now they were waiting to see what would happen.

Steven frowned.  “Maybe we should go back to the barn and check on things.”

“They don’t know that’s where we drilled…it’s probably fine,” Amethyst responded.  “Besides, they’re coming here, and Garnet would tell us if there were more ships.  …Right, Garnet?”

Garnet adjusted her glasses.  “No more ships yet.”

“Yet?” Peridot squeaked.

“Hey, it’s okay.”  Steven grabbed her hand.  “We’re all here.  You couldn’t be safer!”

Blue listened to the others, her eyes fixed on the ship as it approached.  Everyone else seemed apprehensive – and understandably so – and she…wasn’t sure how she felt about this.  Fear was present, of course, but there were other feelings tangled in that fear.  Yellow Diamond wasn’t _her_ Diamond, but she was still an ally.

It seemed wrong to be out here, possibly caught up in a battle once the ship landed and its inhabitants confronted Steven and his team.  At the same time, it felt wrong _not_ to be involved.  Steven had saved her life, after all, and they’d started training her to fight.  It was so she could protect herself against the monsters they encountered here, but it had to also be for situations like this, right?  She should be prepared to at least try and contribute, but that seemed…well…traitorous.  After everything that had happened, she was still Blue Diamond’s Pearl, and she couldn’t go against that.

But, again, Steven had saved her life, and he and his team had done so much for her.  It’d be traitorous to go against that, too, and running off was also out of the question.  Where would she go?  And if she did that, she’d never be able to face Steven again.

It didn’t really matter, did it?  Her actions would be unforgivable no matter what she did.

“Not yet.”

Garnet’s voice pulled Blue out of her thoughts.  She turned to the tall gem, who was looking at Lapis.  Lapis looked like a strong breeze was hitting her, which usually indicated she was using her powers.  Glancing at the ocean showed her an unnatural swell in the water.

“I can take care of this right now,” Lapis protested.

“We need to make sure they’re a threat,” Garnet replied.

Lapis narrowed her eyes at the team’s leader.  The two seemed to stare at each other for a moment – it was hard to tell when she couldn’t see Garnet’s eyes – but then Lapis sighed and the ocean flattened out.

Steven smiled at Lapis.  “Maybe we’ll be able to do this without a fight.”

“I doubt it’ll be that easy,” Peridot responded.  “They’re likely to be checking on the cluster and the status of the Crystal Gems now that they know you – we – didn’t die out.”  She shuddered and let out a staggering breath.  “And if they know I’m here, she’s going to get rid of me, too.  In fact, they’ll probably try to eliminate me first.”

Steven shook his head.  “They’re not going to eliminate anybody.  We’ll get through this.”

The ship was nearly directly over them by this point.  The conversation died, and the gems spread out.  Garnet took a few steps forward, putting herself between the ship and the other gems.  Pearl and Amethyst took position on each side of the tall gem, while Steven kept in front of Peridot…until Lapis grabbed Blue’s and Peridot’s wrists and pulled them back behind the hill.

“Neither one of you knows any real combat,” the darker blue gem explained, her gaze fixing on Peridot.  “Peridot, you don’t even know how to run without falling over, half the time.”  She then turned to Blue.  “And Blue, by now, Blue Diamond will have noticed your absence, so if they find out you’re here things will get complicated.  You should stay out of sight.  Get out of here if you think you can manage it without being seen.”

“But what about you guys?” Peridot asked.

Lapis snorted.  “I can control most of this planet’s surface.  We’ll be fine.”

The ship landed, and Lapis let go of them, walking off to join the other gems.  Blue stayed where she’d been taken, closing her eyes to focus on voices.  She wouldn’t be able to see anyway, from this position, but sometimes hearing was just as good at telling her what was going on.

At first, there was nothing but the sound of a ship door opening, and then footsteps in the sand.  The air seemed to weigh down on her.  There was an odd, faint high-pitched noise from Peridot, and the green gem clutched her shoulders.  Blue reached up to pat the green gem’s hand, unsure of how else to comfort her.

“So these are the Crystal Gems?”  A harsh voice she didn’t recognize carried over the beach.  “I was expecting a more impressive force.”

Pearl started to speak, but was cut off before she could get her first word out – whether it was by the Homeworld Gems or one of the Crystal Gems, she had no idea.  Blue’s toes pressed into the sand and she braced her free hand against the hill – the urge to climb or inch around to where she could see everyone was battling with her order to stay hidden and her instinct to flee.  Her training told her to stay close to her Diamond and out of the way, but…right now Steven was her Diamond, and there was also Peridot to worry about.  The green gem was trembling badly…or maybe some of the shaking was from her. It was hard to tell.

There was a loud noise that cut into her thoughts, and then a storm of rock and dirt as part of the hill exploded.  Peridot yelped and let her go, and she dropped down, bringing her knees to her chest and hunching forward to curl around her gem as best she could to protect it.  She could hear yells from both sides, each voice mixing with the others and creating a jumbled mess in her mind that she couldn’t interpret.

When bits of the hill stopped falling around her, she stood back up and inched toward the ocean.  Peridot was gone – maybe she’d run off, or maybe she was under one some of the debris.  Blue should have made sure she was all right, but there hadn’t been time to think…  As it turned out, taking cover behind the hill wasn’t much safer than being out there with the others, and now she was worried for Steven.  This wasn’t the monster they’d faced after her training session – this was a group of fully competent and capable gems from Homeworld who seemed to have come to Earth just to do battle with him and his team.

Fortunately, Steven seemed to be fine.  He had his bubble and shield up, and she thought she saw Pearl in the bubble with him.  A pale, near-white gem faced them for a moment, but then a pale blur knocked into her, throwing her back.  Garnet was closer to the ship, fighting back two other gems – one red and green and the other creamy orange – and seeming to hold her own – but of course she was.  Lapis was nowhere she could see, and that bothered her.

A shadow fell over her, and that was all the warning she had before something heavy knocked her to the ground.  It was off of her a moment later, but then it grabbed her right foot and dragged her back.  She let out a gasp at the sudden attack, and she struggled – unsuccessfully – to right herself so she could see what was going on.

Fortunately, whatever had grabbed her didn’t seem intent on hurting her.  Once she was behind the hill again, she was released, and she scrambled into a sitting position before a large pink feline blocked her way around the hill again.  Her gaze drifted from his glowing eyes to the thick, pale mane around his neck.

Was this Lion?

Steven had told her about Lion before, just in case she happened to see him before they could be properly introduced.  The feline certainly matched Steven’s description, and every other lion she’d seen on this planet had been some shade of yellow-brown.  She’d known he was big, but she’d somehow underestimated just how big…

The feline nudged her right hand with his muzzle, and a moment later she felt something drop into it.  Looking down, she saw a distinctive tear-shaped stone.  So that was what had happened…  Lapis’ gem didn’t seem to be cracked or chipped anywhere, but Blue wondered how she could have been taken out so easily with the ocean in easy reach.  Now that she was thinking about it, the ocean hadn’t been used at all, had it?  The sand around the battle was dry, and she’d never noticed any changes to the water.  Had Lapis been surprised right at the start of the fight, or was she trying to protect someone?

Whatever the case, she was incapacitated now, and it seemed Lion wanted her to look after Lapis until she was able to regenerate.  How long would that take?  What about the others?  She looked around, trying to spot Peridot, but the green gem was either gone or hidden. Maybe she should make sure that Peridot’s gem hadn’t gotten trapped under a chunk of earth, but she wasn’t confident she could do that carefully.  Not with the battle going on nearby.

The fight went on for some time.  At some point, Steven must have dropped the bubble, because she could hear Pearl’s yells, a warning from Garnet, and Steven shouting encouragements to the team.  Yellow Diamond’s gems weren’t as vocal, though she did catch the occasional order or taunt in an unfamiliar voice.  Then there was a loud, maniacal cackle that sounded almost exactly like Peridot, and explosions that shook the beach.

There were more shouts, and then what sounded like an order from Yellow Diamond’s side, and a few moments later the ship flew into the air and out of sight.  She watched the spot where it disappeared until a cheer from Steven pierced the air.  Lion bounded around the hill and then up the hill toward the house, and she made her way to the others, bracing herself for whatever she might see.

And…it wasn’t bad, really.  Everyone had some wear to them – Amethyst’s hair was a tangled mess and gashes tore her clothes and skin in various places.  Pearl’s nose was crooked and she was favoring her left foot.  Garnet had visible bruises on her face and arms, but seemed mostly unaffected by them.  Peridot was completely uninjured but visibly trembling, standing in front of a giant green machine with Steven clinging to her.  So that really had been Peridot she’d heard, it seemed.  Good to know she was safe.

“Peridot, that was amazing!”  Steven gushed, distracting Blue from the condition of the others.  She made her way to the pink quartz and knelt beside him.

“Ah, Blue…you don’t have to—“  Steven’s voice trailed off and he stared at her hand.  “Is that Lapis?”

She held the gem to him, and he took it, frowning.

“I was hoping she just crawled off to wait for the battle to be over so I could heal her…”  He shook his head and placed the gem carefully in his pocket.  “At least she’ll be okay.  Thanks for keeping her safe.”

Blue shook her head.  She hadn’t been the one to find Lapis – that was Lion.

“Come on, please stand up.”  He held a hand out to her, and she took it, letting him help her back to her feet.

“Are you sure she’ll be all right in there?”  Peridot frowned at Steven.  “It seems like it’d be a bit cramped.”

“She’ll be fine,” Steven assured her, smiling.  “She won’t be in there that long.”

“P-Dawg!”  Amethyst all but tackled Peridot – and Steven and Blue along with her.  The purple gem wrapped her arms around the other three, grinning wide.  “Way to run off the Homeworld gems!”

“That was an impressive performance.”  Pearl’s voice sounded from behind her.  “Although we’ll have to do something about that robot before the humans get to it.”

“Maybe we can fit it in the temple?” Steven suggested.

“We’ll work that out later.”

Garnet’s voice had startled Blue, earning a laugh and a tighter squeeze from Amethyst.  A moment later, the purple gem let everyone go, and she faced Garnet as the red gem joined them.

“It’s only a matter of time before those gems return, and in greater numbers,” Garnet responded.  “We need to come up with a plan.”  She gestured to the house and started up the hill.

Pearl and Amethyst exchanged a glance that Blue couldn’t read, and then followed the perma-fusion.  After a moment, Peridot did as well.

“Steven!”  Garnet called from the base of the steps leading up to the house.

Steven waved to her.  “I’ll be in there in a bit, but go ahead and start without me!  I think this is going to be a long meeting, so I’m going to get us some pizza.”

Amethyst waved to him as she and Pearl followed Garnet up the steps and into the house.  “Sounds good – make sure to get extra toppings!”

“I’ll see what I can do!”  Steven called back.  Once the gems disappeared inside the house, he turned to Blue.  “You’re welcome to come with me, but you can join the others if you want.”

Blue shook her head.

Steven smiled.  “All right.  Company’s nice, and I guess I do need someone to help me carry the pizza home.  Besides, it means you get to see more of the city!  Maybe not a whole lot more, but you’ll be meeting some new friends, so that’s good.”

He sprinted back the way they’d come – toward the city – and she hurried after him, falling into step behind him as they made their way back around the cliff.

“Where’d you go, anyway?” Steven asked as they walked, slowing so he was beside her rather than leading her.  “When Lapis dragged you and Peridot away, I mean.  I thought you guys were coming up with a plan involving your force powers and Lapis’ water powers, but then she came right back and we didn’t see either of you until Peridot chased away the gems from the ship.”

Blue pointed back toward the hill.

Steven looked back, frowning, but then he nodded.  “Ah, I see!  Yeah, that should have been safer, but then they brought out the lasers…”  He stopped, and she stopped beside him.  “On that note, are you all right?”

Blue tilted her head.  All right?  She supposed…why wouldn’t she be?  But then she remembered bits of the hill falling around her, and then Lion, and she nodded.  Other than a little soreness, she didn’t think she’d been hurt at all from the encounter.

“That’s good.”  Steven started walking again, and she kept pace beside him.  “I forgot to check everyone earlier, but it’s just as well.  Healing will be a lot easier with the smell of pizza filling my room.”

Blue nodded, and his smile widened.  She found herself smiling a moment later, happy to see him happy.  Seeing her Diamond smiling had always given her a great feeling.  She didn’t always understand the cause – and she wasn’t sure she understood now – but the important thing for all Pearls was that their master was happy.  Even beyond that, Steven was sweet.  He deserved it.

Once they were past the cliff, it was a short walk past the donut place and a couple other buildings.  Steven called out a greeting to Peedee – apparently, the pizza place he liked neighbored the fry place they’d visited earlier in the day – and held the door open for her.

“Blue!  Oh, and Steven!  Hi!”

Blue’s smile widened at seeing Jamie waving to them from one of the tables and she headed inside, Steven right behind her.

“I can place the order by myself if you want to go over there.”

Blue cringed at Steven’s words, but relaxed when he smiled and squeezed her hand.

“It’s all right,” he assured her.  “Besides, you didn’t get to see him this morning.”

That was true, and it would be nice to find out why he hadn’t come by.  She dipped her head to Steven and then made her way to Jamie, who gestured for her to sit down across from him.

“I saw you guys earlier, but you seemed to be in a hurry, so I didn’t say anything,” Jamie explained.  “Is everything all right?”

Blue nodded.  In truth, she really wasn’t sure, but the situation was far more complicated than she could explain, and she didn’t want to worry him with the details, anyway.

Jamie’s expression was unreadable.  “There was that thing in the sky, too.  It looked like it was heading right for your house.”

“It was heading exactly for our house,” Steven said as he joined them, taking a seat beside Blue.  “It’s okay, though – we took care of it.”

Blue glanced at Steven.  He was still smiling, and it seemed genuine enough.  Either he thought it really was okay, or he was trying to keep everyone else from worrying – either was likely with him.

“I’m glad we got to see you here,” Steven spoke again.  “Blue missed you, earlier.  She doesn’t really know about days off, yet.”

Jamie stared at her, wide-eyed.  “Really?  Well, I’ll be back on my route tomorrow,” Jamie responded.  “Steven, make sure she learns about days off and takes one every now and then, okay?  That worries me.”

There was a laugh from Steven, and Blue felt her cheeks heat up.

“We’re teaching her everything – don’t worry,” Steven responded.  “So Jamie, what are you up to all the way out here?  I didn’t know you liked pizza!”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Jamie glanced out toward the beach.  “Though this has more to do with having a few days’ worth of easy meals than liking the flavor.  I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next ten days if I want to get Beach City’s next greatest production ready in time.”

Steven gasped, staring bright-eyed at Jamie.  “You’re doing another Mayor Dewey play?”

Play?  Wait…was Jamie a performer?  She turned to Steven, wanting to ask him, but then Jamie’s voice distracted her.

“Not…exactly.”  Jamie turned back to the gems.  “This one was actually commissioned by Mr. Smiley, but I’m in charge of the script.  If he likes it, we might be in for a few nights of performances at Funland, and if those go well I might see if converting the old library into a proper theater is feasible.”

“That would be _amazing_!”  Steven exclaimed.  “Do you need any help?”

The eager look in Jamie’s eyes was a clear yes, though he didn’t respond right away.  It seemed like he was considering his words.

“I wouldn’t turn down help…” he said finally.  “But don’t feel like you have to.  You were a big help in the last play.”

“It’s no problem!”  Steven beamed at him.  “It was a lot of fun!  Oh, and I know a few people that might consider joining in and filling out some of the roles so you don’t have to be all of them this time!”

“That would be great.”  Jamie turned from Steven to Blue, and the gem straightened her posture, waiting for an order that the reasonable portion of her mind knew wasn’t coming.  “What about you, Blue?  I have a few ideas for roles that could be perfect for you.”

He was being polite, but he probably meant a role that wouldn’t involve talking.  She gave him a small smile and nod, anyway.  She’d done some performances back home, but those were usually dances – acting out a story was reserved for “real” gems in most cases.  If Steven and Jamie needed her, she’d be happy to give their play a try.

“Two large pizzas, extra mushrooms,” a human girl – either nearly an adult or just barely there – called out, setting two wide boxes on the counter.

“Ah, that’s me.”  Jamie stood and slid his chair closer to the table.  “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, all right?  Hope the rest of your day goes okay.”

Blue dipped her head to him and waved.

“Yours, too!”  Steven responded.  “Be careful on your way home – nothing’s sadder than a dropped pizza.”

Jamie laughed and collected the boxes.  “I’ll try.”  He made his way out the door and then out of sight.

Steven stood and sat down where Jamie had been so that he and Blue were facing each other.  “I’ve always known Jamie was a fungi…”

This was one of Steven’s “jokes”.  She could see it in his expression.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t well enough acquainted with Earth to understand it.  She tilted her head, and he chuckled.

“I’ll explain the joke back home,” he promised.

“Hey, Steven?  Can I talk to you for a moment?”  The girl from before waved Steven over.

“I’ll be right back.”  Steven approached the counter, and the two started talking, their voices too soft to hear.  She watched them, but did her best to pretend she wasn’t when the two turned to her – a task made easy by her hairstyle.  She didn’t know why, but it almost felt like she was in trouble.

After a minute or two, Steven returned to the table, and she relaxed.  He seemed happy – maybe she was worried over nothing.

“Kiki wants me to bring you back here tomorrow between the lunch and dinner rush,” he explained.  “She didn’t say why, but I think it has something to do with…”  He trailed off, smiling at her apologetically when she tilted her head.  “I think she can explain it better once we come back here.”

Blue nodded and tried to put it out of her mind for now, though her curiosity burned.  Was this another thing to help her adjust to Earth?  The humans in this age seemed happy to help with that – at least, both Jamie and Steven’s dad had been friendly.  Peedee too, really.  Ronaldo was scary, but that was one out of four, and he hadn’t come after her…poor Peridot, though.

“Steven, your order’s ready,” Kiki called, setting three boxes down on the counter.

“Thanks!”  Steven stood and turned to Blue.  “Ready to go back home?”

Blue nodded and stood up.  Steven went to retrieve the pizzas and the two made their way back to the temple.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Blue opened the door as quietly as she could manage – not wanting to wake Steven – and stepped out into the night, making her way down to the beach.  She felt a little weird coming out here alone, but the house was starting to feel more like a prison.  She wasn’t sure why – the gems all treated her well…  She had free reign over everything but the temple itself, and each of them were doing what they could to help her feel comfortable.  It had started to work, but something about today seemed to send her progress all the way back.

Maybe it was the meeting?  When she thought back on it, the feeling had started during the meeting, with the gems discussing how to take on Yellow Diamond’s forces when they returned.  They’d discussed Peridot’s and Lapis’ failed mission to check on the cluster, and the details had made her insides twist painfully.  If Jasper had succeeded in bringing the Crystal Gems back to Homeworld, they would most likely have been killed.  Well…except for Steven.  He was unusual, and there was a decent chance he’d be experimented on to find out his limits and whether or not creating more of him was viable and worthwhile.

She shuddered at the thought and tried to force it out of her mind.  She was unsuccessful, though the attempt helped to dispel the horror, just a little.  She’d been a loyal member of Blue Diamond’s court for thousands of years, and she didn’t think she could ever truly defect from that, but when she thought of how Homeworld might react to Steven, every possibility was awful and wrong.  But…that meant Homeworld was awful and wrong, and that meant Blue Diamond…but she wan’t, but if…

Gem bodies didn’t have all the organs and systems that human bodies did, but they mimicked them well enough that her temples were throbbing.  She waited until she was out of sight of the house, looked around, and then tried to massage the pain away since it seemed she was alone.  She didn’t need to hide for things like this anymore – Steven’s team was trying to push her toward thinking like a true gem instead of…well…her – but millennia-long habits weren’t going to undo themselves easily, and she didn’t see the harm in continuing it, anyway.  It was more comfortable to drop her guard when there was no one to see her do it.

The headache eased, and she continued walking down the beach, toward town.  She hadn’t paid attention to which direction she was going, but that didn’t matter.  Either she’d end up near the donut place or Greg’s.  Then…she didn’t know.  Maybe she’d find a quiet, isolated place to sort herself out, or maybe she’d walk all the way to the other end of town and back.  Was there time to do that before sunrise?  Would that be enough time for her to return to what had passed as normal yesterday?

Whatever the case, she shouldn’t stay out too long…the last thing she wanted was to make the Crystal Gems think she’d run off to try and contact Homeworld.  They trusted her much more than they should have, and she needed to deserve it.

A faint sound drifted to her from somewhere up ahead.  As she walked, it grew louder, and she could pick out the chords of an unfamiliar melody.  Then she reached the car wash, and she saw Greg reclining in a flimsy-looking chair, playing some sort of chordophone – the exact type was one she didn’t recognize.  Greg spotted her almost immediately and stopped, setting the instrument aside.  He stood and turned to face her, giving her a nervous smile.

“Hey Blue.”  His tone was nervous and concerned.  “Is everything all right?”

Blue nodded.  The Crystal Gems had taken care of the ship…for now.  Steven seemed hopeful that they could handle Yellow Diamond’s gems when they returned.  On that end, at least, they would be okay.

“That’s good.”  Greg unfolded another chair.  He returned to the chair he’d occupied before her arrival and gestured for her to take the empty seat.  “How about you?  Are you all right?”

Blue sat down carefully – these things looked very easy to break – and nodded.  She was functional…everything else was too complicated to convey wordlessly.

Greg stared at her a moment, but when she didn’t elaborate he gave her a quick nod and picked up his instrument again, resuming or restarting the song he’d been playing.  “Well, if there _is_ anything wrong and there’s something I can do to help, just let me know, all right?  You’re part of Steven’s family, so you’re part of my family, too.”

Blue dipped her head to him.

Greg smiled at her.  “In the meantime, I can at least be someone fun to hang out with, right?  I _am_ the coolest dad in Beach City!”  He strummed out a few more notes, and then considered his instrument for a moment before turning back to her.  “You seemed to enjoy the music earlier.  Would you like to learn how to play something like it?”

Blue’s eyes widened – was he offering to teach her how to play Earth instruments?  That…sounded really nice, actually, and she found herself nodding before she’d consciously come to a decision.

“Great!  Hang on.”  He stood, grabbed the instrument he’d been playing, and set it in her lap.  Once he demonstrated how to hold the instrument, he moved her hands into position.  “First, I’ll explain the different parts of the guitar – that will make the other lessons so much easier!  Then we’ll get into finger positions and maybe see about practicing a few chords….”

Blue nodded along as Greg spoke, focusing on the sound of his voice and the feel of the guitar in her hands so she couldn’t feel or think of anything else.


	6. Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sword lessons are still a thing. Adjustments still need to be made.

Her opponent’s movements were slow and careful, but she still found herself fighting to keep focused and not flinching as she blocked and dodged, her blade deflecting or jabbing forward as the order was given.  It helped to have Pearl’s voice to focus on, and the footwork was still decidedly dance-like, but she wasn’t sure how long her teacher intended to focus on drills and routines.  Eventually, they’d have to start simulating actual fights, as Steven and Connie had demonstrated during the first lesson.  That thought made her shudder.  She’d never be ready for that level.

“Focus!”

The order made her snap to attention, and she smiled meekly at Pearl’s stern look.

“The moment you’re distracted is the moment you’re shattered,” Pearl continued.  “You need to keep all your attention on your enemies.  Don’t give them an opening!”

Blue nodded and attempted to force her thoughts to quiet down.  It wasn’t easy…how long had it taken the other Pearl to manage this?  She shook her head in an attempt to clear it and focused on her movements as well as Pearl’s, counting the rhythm of each step and swing.

“Amethyst!”

Steven’s sudden call distracted her despite her efforts to keep focused, and she was too late to parry Pearl’s blow.  The pale gem stopped the blade just short of slicing into her shoulder, and Blue winced at how irritated she looked.

Oops.

“Amethyst, this is important!”  Pearl set her sword aside and approached the purple gem as she joined the others in the stands.  Blue set her sword beside Pearl’s and sprinted over.

“So’s this.”  Amethyst shrugged.  “Garnet wants us to go on a mission.”

“I wonder what she’s seen that’s so important…”  Pearl turned to Blue.  “I suppose we have made some progress today.  Consider this lesson finished.  You may practice on your own or return to the temple.”

Blue nodded.

Amethyst looked between the two Pearls.  “What, we’re not taking her with us?”

Pearl shook her head.  “Blue’s…getting there, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with her going on missions, yet.  We haven’t even seen how she’ll handle herself in a controlled fight.”

“That’s probably a fair point.”  Amethyst waved to her.  “See ya soon, Blueberry.”  She led Steven, Pearl, and Connie back to the warp pad.

Blue watched them until they were out of sight, and then glanced back to the swords.

“Practicing some more?” Lapis approached her, and Blue turned to face her.

The darker gem had regenerated a couple days ago, looking pretty much the same as always.  The only difference was that the diamond on her outfit was pretty much gone.  In its place was a simple trim around the edges of her outfit.  There was no star – she may be Steven’s ally but she still refused to have anything to do with the other Crystal Gems when she could get away with it – but it was much more than she’d ever be able to manage.

As for Lapis’ question…  Blue considered for a moment, and then shook her head.  She didn’t think she’d get anything out of the training without Pearl there to make sure she was doing the movements correctly.

“I don’t feel like being in the house right now.”  Lapis’ wings sprouted from her back.  “You’ll be okay with just Peridot there for a while, right?”

Blue nodded.

“Good.”  Lapis flew off, disappearing in the clouds.

So that was that, then.  She bent down to collect the swords and then made her way to the warp pad.  Maybe the mission would be a quick one, but if not she was sure she could find some productive way to spend her time until Steven’s return.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She blinked as the light from the warp faded, revealing Steven’s room.  Normally, the warp didn’t bother her, but for some reason it was unusually bright today.  It wasn’t until she’d set the swords down on the new coffee table and started brushing her hair back into place when she felt the headband and realized she’d forgotten to dispel it and let her bangs fall back to their usual place.

How had she managed that?

Once her hair was back to normal, she looked around.  Steven’s clothing and dishes were all put away, the sink was empty, the trash wasn’t full enough to worry about yet, the surfaces had been scrubbed and dusted…everything looked about as clean and perfect as could be managed on an organic planet.

That was good – the goal of cleaning was to make a place presentable for her Diamond and any visitors that might drop by.  However, it left her with the problem of finding another productive use of her time.  She’d already written a letter to Jamie – a practice she’d started a few days ago at Steven’s suggestion when Pearl declared her literate – and her next guitar lesson with Greg wouldn’t be for a few days.

Then she remembered the book she’d been given by the girl at the pizza place, and she pulled it out of the shelves before making her way up the steps.  She sat down on Steven’s bed with her legs folded underneath her and placed the book in front of her, opening to the page Steven had marked with a small strip of paper.  A few different hand positions were displayed on the pages, along with their meanings.

She’d practiced a few of these with Steven earlier – the small quartz seemed more than eager to help her with anything he thought might make her life easier.  She didn’t really understand the point of the signs – they might be useful if she didn’t have a way to write or project what she wanted, but she kept a notebook and pen in her gem at all times and if she couldn’t do holograms she doubted she’d have the ability to sign, anyway.  His friend seemed to think it was a good idea to learn them, though, and he agreed, so who was she to decline?

Even if her Diamond would likely never have approved of any of this.

Blue bit her lip to try and distract herself from painful thoughts before they could begin and focus on the book.  That…didn’t work.  It was getting harder and harder to keep thoughts of Blue Diamond out of her mind for long, and the most random things would give her a flash of memory, whether it was her finding something the exact shade of blue as Blue Diamond’s skin, hearing a voice that followed her intonations almost perfectly, or even a scent that brought up the ghost of a memory she thought she’d forgotten.

She did her best to act normal when it happened and thought she’d succeeded – at least, Steven didn’t usually say anything when her thoughts drifted away from the present – but even if she hid it, the thoughts and feelings would be present at least until the next day, when Steven would distract her with an errand he wanted her to accompany him for, or a joke or story he wanted to tell, or some fun activity he wanted them to do with the other gems.

She let out a sigh and set the slip of paper back in the book before closing it and setting it on the bedside table.  She’d practice later – maybe once Steven was back and had a spare moment.  It was easier to focus with him there, anyway.

Blue climbed off the bed and then onto the main level of the house.  She put the book back on the shelf and looked around, searching for a familiar green gem.  Peridot had been here before the sword-fighting lesson…where was she now?  Did she have her own mission to go on?

Well, she wasn’t going to find answers or a distraction from her thoughts by standing here.  Blue headed outside and onto the beach, looking around from there to figure out where she wanted to go.  Maybe she should explore for a bit?  It’d be a good idea to learn the area as well as she could manage…

Blue started walking along the beach, picking a direction at random.  She made it out of view of the house, but she didn’t get much farther.  There was an odd squealing sound overhead, and that was all the warning the got before something crashed into her, knocking her face first into the sand.  The weight lifted off her almost immediately, and she pushed herself into a sitting position, snorting to dislodge the sand that tried to invade her nostrils.

“Is he gone?”

Peridot’s voice was barely even a whisper.  Blue attempted to shake the sand off her body and glanced up the cliff.  She couldn’t see or hear anyone, so she nodded.

Peridot let out a relieved sigh and sank down into the sand, bringing her knees up to her chest.  “The one time I go out into town on my own, I happen to find _him_ …”

Blue crawled to the cliff and sat beside the green gem.

Peridot tilted her head back.  “I mean, the lighthouse is right above the temple.  Humans shouldn’t be going anywhere near it!  But apparently, he practically _lives_ there, and he thinks I’m wanting to steal his research to send to…I don’t know.  It’s hard to make sense of anything he’s trying to say.”

Blue nodded along, wondering if she was talking about Ronaldo or if she’d somehow set off some of the other humans in the city.  She had no idea why Ronaldo had acted the way he had, and Steven never mentioned an incident where Peridot had gotten in trouble with the humans.  Maybe some of them just feared gems in general?  But Ronaldo had gone after Peridot specifically…

“I guess I’ll just have to get used to it…”  Peridot rested her chin on her knees.  “And I guess it isn’t all that bad.  One hostile human is still less of a threat than…well…you know…what we had back home.”

Blue tilted her head, frowning.

Peridot kept talking.  “I mean, I used to love Homeworld.   Had my place, and I knew what to expect.  Yellow Diamond was everything – the all-knowing, all powerful leader.  And now, I know everything about that was wrong, and here there is no hierarchy.  At least…not anything like what we used to know.  Everyone just cooperates, and each gem here cares about how the other are feeling.  It’s…good, but it takes getting used to.  It’s not the way we were designed, you know?”

Each word seemed to press a heavy weight further into her core, but she did her best to ignore it.  She nodded along, unsure of what else Peridot might want from her.  Maybe nothing – it seemed she just wanted someone to listen, since she was talking knowing that Blue couldn’t contribute in the same way.

“It’s just…complicated…”  Peridot sighed and stood up, dusting the sand off her clothes.  “But you understand, right?”

Blue nodded.

“Good.”  Peridot looked around, her expression uneasy.  “I think I’m heading back to the temple.  I’ve had enough excitement for one day.  Are you coming with?”

She probably should.  Steven might be back by now.  She’d only intended to distract herself until his return.  Thinking about returning right this second made her feel uneasy, though, so she shook her head.

“Suit yourself, then.”  Peridot started walking toward the temple.  “Be careful on the way home.”

Blue waved – even if Peridot was turned away – and leaned against the cliff, staring out at the ocean.  Even though she’d been here several days and made some of her own choices by this point, it still felt weird to do so.  Almost like she was disobeying, even if the gems seemed pleased by it.  Some days she felt like she was making progress, and maybe she’d caught herself being genuinely happy a time or two.

But…some days – no matter how kind the gems here were – she just missed Blue Diamond.  If she could have her Diamond here, somehow coexisting peacefully with the Crystal Gems, then she’d be truly happy.  She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to Homeworld – not when she thought of what they’d do to the gems here – but that was Blue Diamond’s home, and it would have remained her home if she hadn’t been corrupted.  It was a fact that always seemed present in her mind, just behind her active thoughts in any given moment.  She needed to figure out how to get rid of it – to be happy with the gems that were treating her well and to accept the fact that she’d never see her Diamond again.

She should…but she didn’t even know how to start, especially when that ever-present part of her still wishes for her Diamond, despite everything Steven had done for her.

Her gem glowed without her consciously willing it, and a form was beamed into existence in front of her.  It was smaller than it should have been, but the shape couldn’t be more familiar.  Hologram Diamond stepped beside her and lowered herself onto the sand, her form the perfect image of grace and beauty.  Blue blinked and wiped away the wetness that rolled down her cheeks.  How long had it been since she’d seen even a shadow of the most perfect being she’d ever know?  It wasn’t real – the real Blue Diamond was probably off on another potential colony by this point, farther away than she’d ever been – but the likeness was as perfect as a hologram could manage.

A large, elegant hand touched down gently on her arm, and she leaned against the projection, closing her eyes.  This wasn’t exactly the same – not even close – but it was strangely comforting to be beside even an image of her master.  She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.  She did need to learn to move on eventually, but for now all she wanted to do was sit here with “her Diamond” and pretend everything was right and normal again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for putting up with my slowness. I worked really hard to get this chapter done while visiting my parents. There probably won't be a new one until around a week after I get home, but we'll be back later this week (around the seventh), so not too long a wait...right? Then I should be back to a weekly posting schedule (or two weeks if a chapter's particularly long or troublesome).
> 
> I intend for the next chapter to be something fun. We'll see what happens, though.
> 
> EDIT (7-20-16): I'm still working on that chapter. Life got busy and then I got sick. Sorry about this, but it will come when I can get it done.


	7. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Amethyst lead a group outing.

The light from the warp pad faded, and Steven sprinted toward a building in the distance.  Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot were right behind him, and Blue darted forward to catch up, keeping a few paces behind.  Steven glanced back at her, frowning slightly, but she just dipped her head to him and he turned his attention back to the scene ahead of them.  She knew he didn’t like her trailing behind the group, but it was more comfortable at the back than at the front.

Blue had been away from the temple since mid-morning, and now day was turning to dusk, the familiar bands of color painting the sky.  Steven and Amethyst had taken it upon themselves to show the newer members of their household around the planet – namely, a few of Steven’s favorite places from his various missions.  They’d started in what seemed to be an endless field of strawberries, littered with weapons of varying type and size.  They’d spent a few hours gathering some of the weapons – with Blue storing them in her gem – and then Steven led them up a series of small, floating islands.

Once they were all safely on the largest, he and Amethyst had lunch – she hadn’t wanted to eat, and neither had Lapis or Peridot – and he told them the story of how the rebellion had come to be, as well as the significance of the area.  She was conflicted on how she felt about being in an ancient gem battlefield – her Diamond had never allowed her near the actual fighting if it could be helped – but if Steven wanted her there, it had to be okay, and it seemed relatively safe now.

The next stop was at a beautiful island that was home to an odd, plantlike race that had been introduced to her as “Watermelon Stevens”.  He’d apparently created the race himself, though for some reason he felt it important to insist that it had been an accident.  They didn’t get to stay there as long as she would have liked – Steven wasn’t sure how the plant versions of him would react to seeing any of the gems.  Maybe they could go there again some other time and she’d be able to explore properly.  In the meantime, she had to be satisfied with what they’d already seen.

After the island, they visited a barren crater that housed a Geode.  When they first arrived, Steven explained that the Geode was there to contain…something.  She didn’t understand everything he was saying, but it sounded like some sort of storm or explosion was being suppressed, and that it’d be very bad news if it ever escaped.  He’d brought them closer to the Geode to show them a strip of “tape” that was concealing a crack, and then he’d attempted to heal the damage with his powers.  In the end, the crack had shrunk, but hadn’t gone down completely, and Steven had to reapply the tape.

Now they were surrounded by gently-sloping hills and grass, with few signs of civilization in viewing distance.  She could see a couple fragile-looking human structures and a fence that didn’t seem capable of keeping anything away.  It was peaceful enough, but she couldn’t imagine why Steven would count this as one of his favorite places.  Not against everything else he’s shown her today, or talked about before their exploration began.  Maybe they just had a bit of a walk ahead of them?  The place where they’d rested above the strawberry field hadn’t been close to that warp pad…

She mentally shook those thoughts away and focused on the path ahead.  She’d find out what Steven wanted to show them when it was time.

As it turned out, their destination was the shorter of the two human buildings.  When Blue stepped inside, Steven and Lapis were standing near the door, while Peridot peered down from the loft.  Amethyst was sitting in the back of some kind of vehicle – the type itself was unfamiliar.

“This is the barn!”  Steven’s voice caught her attention, and she turned to see him smiling at her, arms spread wide.  “This is where we lived while we were working on the drill to get to the cluster.  Did you see the hole just outside?”

She’d somehow missed that.  She backed up a couple steps and looked around, spotting an area that had clearly been dug up.  She peered over the edge, but shadow encased the deepest point, making it impossible to see the bottom.

“We’ve been working on sealing the hole,” Steven explained as he joined her.  “There’s still quite a ways to go, but the gems’ve made good progress.  At least, as things are now we probably don’t have to worry about the cluster’s bubble popping and it forming to destroy the world.”  He seemed to have frowned, though the expression was gone quick enough that she was half sure she imagined it.  “Oh!  We also tried to build a spaceship here, but that…didn’t exactly work out.  That’s okay, though.  I think we’ve all had our fill of space, at least for now.”

Blue nodded, suddenly feeling heavier.  Space wasn’t on her list of things she’d prefer to think about right now, as those feelings were still unpleasant and complicated.  Lapis’ expression suggested that she felt the same.

A shriek from Peridot distracted her.  She turned to the green gem, who was pointing at a spot in the sky behind them.  Turning, she saw a small red ship making its way toward them.

Then her arm was yanked, and she struggled to keep her balance as Steven dragged her into the barn.  He led her to a corner under the loft, where Peridot had curled up.  Lapis and Amethyst joined them, though both gems looked conflicted, like they’d rather be out there facing the ship.

“What was that?” Steven asked.

“It’s a Roaming Eye,” Peridot moaned.  “I knew they’d come after me!”

Steven let go of Blue to hug Peridot.  “It may not be you.  It could be any of us.”

Peridot shook her head.  “I was the one that called Yellow Diamond a clod, right to her face!”  She buried her face in her arms.  “You don’t insult the Diamonds.  You never insult the Diamonds!  They’re going to take me back home and have me harvested!”

Blue frowned and sat down beside the green gem, leaning against her since she couldn’t offer comforting words.  Amethyst turned her back on the group, staring out of the barn at the ship as it searched.

Why wasn’t it looking in here?  They had to have been spotted before retreating into the building.

“Maybe we can lure it to the beach.”  Lapis’ voice was barely louder than a mumble, and Blue had to strain to hear it over Peridot’s whimpering.  “I could smack it out of the solar system.”

But then the ship flew over the barn and out of sight.  The group remained as they were for a moment that seemed to last an eternity.  Then Amethyst let out a heavy breath.

“I think we lost ‘em.”

 “I’ll check it out.”  Steven started toward the doors.

“Steven, don’t go alone!”  Lapis sprinted after him.

The quartz turned to her, shaking his head.  “It’s okay.  I can pass as fully human, so they probably won’t pay attention to me.”

Lapis grimaced, but nodded.  “Don’t go too far.”

Steven smiled at her.  “Don’t worry.”  He waved to everyone else.  “I’ll holler if I need help.”

And then he was gone.  Amethyst sprinted out, as well, her form melting into light and reforming into a small bird that flew off after him.

Lapis let out a sound between a grunt and a hiss and started pacing.  Blue watched her, curling in on herself to try to keep her own nerves at bay.  This was Steven, though, right?  He was strong…he’d be fine.

A loud crashing sound nearby made her jump.  Lapis stopped pacing and ran outside.  Peridot followed, keeping close behind the darker blue fem.  Blue watched them a moment, wondering if she should join them or stay there as instructed.

Then there was a yell that was unmistakably Amethyst’s, and Peridot and Lapis ran out of her line of sight.  Blue sprinted a few paces after them, pausing at the door to the barn.  She…really shouldn’t.  She’d been told to stay.

Something collided into her side while she looked the other way, knocking her into the barn door.  She grunted at the impact and pushed herself away from the door, looking around to see what had hit her.

“Sorry!  Are you all right?” 

Blue’s eyes fell on a reddish form – maybe around a head shorter than her – with a bright red gem in the same area of her body as Steven’s.  That…could only be a Ruby.  Her gaze darted around, searching for anything in her immediate surroundings that might be used as a weapon.

“I was looking at this really pretty thing flying over there.”  The Ruby gestured to her left.  “I thought I saw some humans disappear over this way, but I didn’t expect a Pearl to also be here.  Are you lost?”  The Ruby’s voice was heavy with concern.  She took a step forward, and Blue backed up, keeping the distance between them.  “Oh, are you the nervous type?  That’s all right.  This place is beautiful, but I guess it can be scary, too.  There’s some group here that keeps messing up Yellow Diamond’s plans.  At least, that’s what I heard.  You should be careful.”

The Ruby was giving her a friendly smile, but the expression made the encounter all the more unsettling, and Blue took another half-step back.  The Ruby made no attempt to get closer, though the smile did falter for a moment.

“Oh!  My friends and I are looking for a Jasper,” the Ruby spoke again after a moment.  “There was a crash here some time ago, and the Jasper was aboard that ship.  You wouldn’t know what happened to her since then, would you?”

A…Jasper?  Blue shook her head – there were no Jaspers in Steven’s team, at least none that she knew about.  There was one she’d heard Lapis and Peridot mention a time or two…would it be the same one?

There was a faint yell in the distance, and the Ruby glanced where it had come from before turning another smile on Blue.  “I should get going.  Keep safe, all right?”

The Ruby ran off, and Blue peered outside the barn again, relaxing when she saw Steven and the others running her way.  She stepped outside as they approached, blinking at the sight of the three dormant Rubies in Amethyst’s hands.

 “We wrecked their ship!”  Amethyst boasted.  “A couple of them escaped, but they’re still stuck on Earth, so we’ll get ‘em eventually.”

Steven stared at Blue, seeming to look her over.  “Are you all right?  We thought we saw one heading this way.

Blue nodded.

“Good!”  Steven started back toward the warp pad.  “Come on!  We should head back before Garnet and Pearl start to worry.”

The other gems followed Steven, with Blue keeping back a few paces.  The Ruby she’d just met seemed really nice.  She felt traitorous for thinking it, but she was glad that one had managed to get away.  It made her worry for the others, but the Crystal Gems wouldn’t be cruel to them, right?  …Of course, right.  Even if they wanted to, Steven wouldn’t let them.

She’d be constantly telling herself that for the rest of the evening and well into the next morning, until Jamie’s visit distracted her from the fate of the red gems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this chapter took so long! I've been trying to write it this whole time, but it fought me for every word and has been through a few re-writes (I even finished it once, only to have to scrap everything). Even this attempt had the last half or so rewritten, and it's still not my best work.
> 
> My original intent was to write out the whole outing, but that ended up being far too long and uninteresting (really, do you guys wanna see like five pages of Blue shoving weapons and weapon fragments into her gem? Yeah, me either). I would have liked to have done something other than summarize the other places, but that's what future stories are for, I guess.
> 
> We're getting close-ish to the end, here. Two more chapters after this, unless I end up splitting one or another idea demands to be written in. I'm somewhere between one third and one half of the way through the next chapter already (it's coming much easier than this one!), so I hope to be able to put it up later this week or early next week.


	8. Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue learns some new truths about herself, and other things happen. A specific someone learns an effective way of cheering another specific someone up.

Blue felt empty, in more ways than one.  She really shouldn’t – everyone around her was friendly, and she was even starting to get to the point where she was comfortable with everyone, even without Steven.  She had a ways to go before she could feel like a real part of the group, but everyone else seemed to think of her as such, to the point where she was gently scolded if she didn’t join the others on the warp pad for a mission or training.  She should be feeling whole.

And yet, she wasn’t.

It had started the night after the exploration with Steven.  Under Garnet’s and Pearl’s supervision – not that it was needed, but she certainly understood the caution – Amethyst had taken Blue into her room, and Blue spent the night summoning everything she’d been storing out of her gem.  It had started with the weapons they’d collected that day, but she’d discovered that she was still holding on to a few of Blue Diamond’s things, so she’d surrendered those as well.  None of it was particularly important – Blue Diamond would never have let her off planet with anything that might be valuable to anyone else – but each item contained a memory that stabbed at her core.  Part of her was grateful to have everything safely stored elsewhere, out of sight.  The other part of her, though…

The other part of her just missed her Diamond.

Steven was wonderful.  She was glad she’d met him, and sure she’d be corrupted beyond any hope without him.  He wasn’t her Diamond, though, and never would be…mostly because he didn’t want to be.  He treated her as a friend and equal, which she was supposed to recognize as a good thing.  She was trying.  Sometimes, she thought she was making progress.  Other times, the prospect was scary.  She’d been more than content as Blue Diamond’s servant, and being what Steven wanted would mean completely rewriting who she was as a gem and a Pearl.

And he was getting his way.

Maybe she had a long way to go, but even now she was different from the Pearl that had crashed here two weeks ago.  She’d known even then that there was no going back home, but she’d been able to pretend it was a possibility.  Now, she was starting to express her thoughts and feelings without being addressed.  It’d be so easy to slip and get herself shattered…  And, nowadays, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to go home, and that realization opened a whole mess of complicated feelings.

Making her a mess in general.

The house was quiet.  Steven was sleeping, the Crystal Gems were in the temple working on a new room for Peridot, and Lapis was outside where no one would bother her.  On some nights, Blue found the silence peaceful, but today it felt oppressive.  Everything felt oppressive…and foreign.  She wished she was back on Homeworld, in the presence of her Diamond, and that feeling pressed on her until it became hard to think.

Suddenly, her surroundings felt like a cage.  She needed to get out of here.  Blue made her way to the door, opening it as quietly as possible before slipping outside.  She moved against the cliff when she spotted Lapis by the shore, not wanting to…be seen?  Bother her friend?  She didn’t know which, and it wasn’t something worth puzzling out.

She moved along the cliff, stopping once she was out of view of the house.  Out of view of anything that reminded her of just how much time had passed, and just how lost she felt.  Her gem acted almost without her thinking, and the Blue-Diamond-that-wasn’t-Blue-Diamond stood before her after a moment.  The form lowered itself into the sand, and Blue sat beside it, leaned against it, her own small frame sliding down until she was practically in “her Diamond’s” lap.  She let out a sigh as she curled up, ignoring the stinging of her eyes and willing her mind to forget everything about the last few thousand years – just for a little while.  Just until she was cheery enough to return to her new life without worrying anyone.

“Hello, Blue.”

Blue’s entire body jolted at the sound of Lapis’ voice.  How long had she been there?  Blue rubbed at her eyes, wiping away the tears that had managed to surface before kneeling to the approaching gem.

Lapis stopped next to her and sat down, joining her in the sand.  “You can stop that – you know our old ranks don’t matter anymore.”

Blue about cringed, but managed to stop herself, instead shifting her position so she was sitting rather than kneeling.  Lapis’ scolding was gentle – more of a reminder than an order – but instincts were hard to overcome.  She’d been trying to change for Steven’s sake in the past two weeks, but she didn’t always catch herself in time.

“It’s okay to miss home.”  Lapis looked away from her, and Blue felt herself relax a little.  She glanced at the darker blue gem as she continued speaking.  “I miss it, too.  The pain’s not going to go away anytime soon for either of us.”

Blue’s eyes were stinging again, and this time she could feel the tears dripping off her chin.  She closed her eyes and tried to will her strength back.  She wasn’t ready for this talk.  Not yet.  But this wasn’t just about her, was it?

“I know it’s hard,” Lapis continued.  “Do what you have to do to get through it right now, but I think that hologram might only delay your healing in the long run.”

Blue felt her cheeks heat up at the mention of the hologram.  Maybe she should stop projecting Blue Diamond when she felt overwhelmed.  It seemed to help, but what if it was only making her thoughts and emotions more muddled?  Then Lapis placed one of her hands on Blue’s, distracting her from further thought.

“Everything here is strange and scary,” Lapis went on.  “Nothing here is anything like Homeworld ever was.  This world is primitive and organic, and the hierarchy you’re used to doesn’t exist.  That means quite a bit more freedom, in your case, and in a way that’s also scary…”  She paused for a moment, and the continued.  “I can promise you’re safer here than anywhere.  Steven loves you, and he’ll protect you with everything he has.  The Crystal Gems…  I don’t trust them, but they seem to genuinely care about Steven.  If nothing else, they’ll protect you for his sake.  And…”  Another pause.  Lapis squeezed her hand.  “You have me.  We’ll adjust to this whole ‘unwilling outcasts’ thing together, all right?”

Blue pulled one of her hands away from Lapis’ to wipe more at her eyes again, and she sniffled as the emotions she’d been trying to control slipped through her grip.  What was wrong with her?  She used to be able to hold in far worse than this!

Then there was an arm on her shoulder, and she looked over at her companion.  Lapis was looking back toward the temple, as though she expected someone to come join them.  Had she told anyone about Blue running off?  …No, the others would be here by now if that was the case.

“We’ll have to head back before long,” Lapis said to her.  “But did you want to just sit here and stare at the stars for a bit?”

Blue gave the other gem a small nod, sniffling some more in an attempt to reign in her sadness and homesickness.  Lapis’ hand moved down her shoulder to squeeze her arm, and Blue’s eyes widened as that turned into a hug.  Lapis was never this affectionate!  Had she been that worried, or was she feeling the same homesickness tonight?

Whatever the case may be, Blue was grateful for her company…and a little disturbed that Lapis’ presence was proving more comforting than the hologram.  Had she really moved on so much?  She’d always thought she was more loyal than that… but maybe it was just that the hologram wasn’t actually Blue Diamond, and it would never care about her.

And just like that, her head started hurting.  She tried to push away the thoughts for now – she could deal with them when she was more stable – and focus on the night sky.  For some reason, it seemed even more clear and beautiful tonight than usual.  Was that reality, or was it just her?

Never mind.

After some time – it was hard for her to tell just how much time had passed – Lapis shifted, and Blue pulled away from her, climbing to her feet.  Lapis had said they couldn’t stay out here for long, so it was probably time to head back.  Lapis stood as well, and the two started making their way back to the temple.

“You!”

Blue turned toward the unfamiliar voice.  A large gem that had to have been some kind of quartz was running toward them.  Lapis gasped, and Blue turned to her companion.  Did she know this gem?  Lapis’ eyes were wide, and she was trembling so badly Blue was surprised she was able to keep on her feet.  Blue’s attention shifted to the quartz, and she resisted the urge to look toward the temple.  She could go get help…probably should…but what about Lapis?  Would she be capable of following?  Could Blue carry her?

The quartz closed the distance between them.  Blue inched toward Lapis, her body tensing and her instincts urging her to go get Steven.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.”  The quartz growled.  “I should have figured you’d join Rose.  After that stunt you pulled, no one else will take you.”

Blue tried to subtly nudge Lapis toward the temple – if they could get to Steven, he could get the Crystal Gems together and maybe they’d have a chance against the quartz – but the darker blue gem seemed rooted in place.

The quartz reached for Lapis.  The world seemed to shift around Blue at that moment, and suddenly she was right between the two.  The quartz stared at her a moment, and then threw her head back and laughed.

“So you’re hiding behind Pearls now?  That’s cute.”  Crushing pain enveloped Blue around her middle and arms, and she let out a sound between a grunt and a hiss as she was gripped and lifted to the quartz’s eye level.  She squirmed and kicked, attempting to free herself and earning another laugh from the larger gem.  “You’re not even the defect!  It’s almost a shame to shatter you – I could use a good—”

The quartz’s next word was cut off by a grunt of pain as Blue’s foot connected with one of her eyes.  The world shifted around her again and she collided with the sand, nose first.

There was a roar from up above her, and then something slammed against her back, causing spikes of pain to shoot through her entire torso.  The thing pressed even more against her, until she felt something inside her start to give.  She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t move from her place on the ground…and the quartz was still standing.

Was Lapis at least okay?

Her neck didn’t want to cooperate, and the tiniest of moments were rewarded with explosions of pain in her neck and nose, but she was able to turn her head to the side, and she cringed when she saw Lapis standing right where she’d been before.  The darker blue gem was staring at her, horrified, making her wonder if she looked as bad as she felt.  Then Lapis’ gaze shot up to where the quartz must be – standing right over her and slowly crushing her underneath one powerful foot.

More weight pressed down on her, and she could feel her gem straining along with the sharp pains in her back.  Her injuries were almost enough to shatter her form.  She couldn’t let that happen – if she shattered, they’d both be helpless!  But what could she—

Wait…

She cast her gaze around as much as she was able, searching for something – anything – she could use as a weapon.  She spotted a rock – roughly the size of her head – to Lapis’ left, and focused on it, a faint glow pulsing from her gem as the rock wobbled and clumsily rose.  Then it darted above her, toward the quartz.  She could hear a grunt above her and then a gasp from Lapis, who darted out of the way as the rock was hurtled toward her.

It was getting harder to keep her eyes open, but she didn’t need her sight to tell her what was happening above her.  There was the sound of rushing water, a yell from Lapis, and an angry scream from the quartz that seemed to fade into the distance.  Then footsteps, and a soft murmur from Lapis.

Then nothing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Her first sensation was of something soft – something that wasn’t sand – underneath her.  Then she cracked an eye open, and light flooded her vision, blinding her.  Or, maybe that was just because she’d squeezed that eye shut again.  She shifted her position, trying to get her arms underneath her so she could push herself up, and opened her eyes again, only to see Steven’s face blocking out everything else.  The brightness around him told her that her hair was disheveled to some extent – at the very least, it wasn’t covering her eyes – and, for once, she didn’t bother to correct it.

“You’re awake!” the boy exclaimed, his smile so wide it looked almost painful.  “Garnet said you were really close to poofing when Lapis brought you in.  I’m so glad you’re okay.”  He turned to look somewhere behind him.  “See, Lapis?  Everything’s fine, now.”

Right, Lapis!  Blue watched as Steven made his way to the darker blue gem, who was sitting near the door to the temple, arms crossed over her legs and head buried behind them.  Amethyst and Peridot were on either side of her, and Steven took a seat in front of her, speaking to her too softly to hear.  Blue wanted to join Steven and make sure Lapis was okay, but then Pearl was standing over her, their noses practically touching.

“What were you thinking?” Pearl’s voice was almost a shriek.  “Taking on Jasper with your current level of training?  And you didn’t even have a weapon!  You could have been shattered!  Or taken back to Homeworld, and who knows what would have happened to you from there!  Or…or…”  Pearl sniffled, tears and other fluids running down her face, and the sniffling quickly turned into sobs.

Blue should feel bad.  Maybe she did.  More than anything, though, she was…numb.  Or shocked.  Right now, it was hard to tell anything.  She’d known the Crystal Gems cared about her for Steven’s sake, and that they’d gone out of her way to try to help her adjust to life on Earth, but she never thought she would inspire this level of emotion from any of them…or anyone that wasn’t her Diamond.  Of course, she never thought she – a fragile Pearl – would ever take on a quartz soldier and live, even with help.  She never even imagined she’d have the courage to try.  It was so funny!

Blue brought a hand up to her mouth to try and mask the breathy giggles escaping her, but she couldn’t mask the way her shoulders were shaking.  The breaths escalated into the wheeze-like noises that tended to escape her when she laughed, and soon the rest of her body was shaking.  Then her eyes started to sting, and wetness ran down her cheeks, dripping onto her arms and legs.

There was a soft sigh, and then a pair of thin pale arms wrapped around her, and Pearl’s head came down to rest on her shoulder.  “Shh…  It’s okay.  You’re all right.  That’s all that matters, now.”

Despite the reassurances, it seemed to take an eternity for Blue to regain control of herself.  In that time, she’d caught a concerned question from Steven and a reassurance from Garnet – the words had eluded her but the tones were unmistakable.  When the…whatever that had been ended, she rested her forehead against Pearl’s shoulder and tried to focus on breathing, taking in as much air as her body would allow and letting it out slowly.  It was a simple, soothing action, and she hoped it would help her calm down completely – or at least get rid of the last of the shaking.

“So what do we do now?”

Peridot’s voice cut through Blue’s focus, and she lifted her head up to turn to the green gem.  Peridot was still sitting by Lapis, but her eyes were on Garnet, who was leaning against the counter.

“Right now, we do nothing,” Garnet responded.

“What?”  Peridot’s voice was almost a squeak.  “But Jasper’s back, and she got away!  She could be anywhere by now!”

“Peridot…”  Steven’s voice held a gentle warning.  He looked from the green gem to Lapis, who was shaking hard enough that Blue could see it from where she sat.

Peridot cringed.  “Sorry.  But we need a plan!”

“We know Jasper made it through the near-shattering of the Earth,” Garnet responded. “She came here specifically for Lapis, so she will return.  We only need to wait, and to keep our guard up.”

“What are we gonna do with her when she comes back?” Steven asked.

“We’ll bubble her and keep her in the temple,” Pearl answered.  “Right now, that’s the only thing we can do.”

Steven frowned at that, but seemed to accept the answer.  Of course that upset him – he didn’t like it when anyone suffered, whether it was necessary or not.    Blue carefully slipped out of Pearl’s grip and walked to the group by the warp pad, sitting down next to Steven.

Lapis lifted her head just enough to peer at Blue over her arms.  “…Are you all right?”

Blue nodded and tilted her head, giving the darker blue gem an inquiring look.

Lapis emitted a sound between a sigh and a moan and lowered her head again, mumbling something that sounded like it might have been, “It doesn’t matter…”

Steven inched toward Lapis.  “Of course it does.  We care about you too, even if you can’t see it yet.”

“I _know_ you care!”  Lapis lifted her head again to glare at Steven.  Then she looked away.  “You just shouldn’t…”  She pulled her legs against her chest.  “Blue, I’m so sorry…  If I hadn’t just stood there, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Blue stared at the darker blue gem, confused – was Lapis really that worried about that?

Amethyst smiled at Lapis, giving her a pat on the shoulder.  “It’s okay…  That’s happened to all of us, at some point or other.”  She glanced pointedly at Pearl.  “Some of us more than others.”

Lapis let out a quiet moan and sank her head back down behind her arms.

Amethyst glared at her for a moment, and then sighed dramatically.  “I was trying to be mature about this, but you’ve forced me to bring out the big guns!”

Blue turned to Amethyst, frowning.  Big guns?

Amethyst brought the palms of her hands to her mouth and blew against them, creating a noise reminiscent of…well… Greg after eating pizza, as much as she tried ignoring and forgetting about that incident.

Lapis snorted and seemed to curl tighter into herself.  Amethyst grinned and blew into her palm again, starting and stopping at random times and moving one hand and then the other to create slightly different sounds.  Lapis’ body shook, and she made a series of breathy sounds that could have been sobbing, laughter, or panting.  Steven laughed, and Blue turned to Peridot, but the green gem looked just as confused as she felt.

Amethyst continued her noisemaking, varying the sound as much as possible.  Lapis snorted and giggled, her shaking increasing.  Then she shoved the purple gem.  “Stop!”

Amethyst cackled and scooted just out of arm’s reach.  “Admit it, you were smiling!”

Lapis huffed and turned away from the purple gem.  She rested her head on her arms again, though this time her face was visible, and she didn’t look quite as miserable as she initially sounded.

After a moment, Lapis sighed.  “Hey, Amethyst?”

Amethyst blinked and inched closer.  “Yeah, Lap-dawg?”

Lapis seemed to deflate a bit.  She turned her head, though her face was still pointed more toward Steven than Amethyst.  She squeezed her eyes closed, her brow furrowed.  “…Thank you.”

Amethyst stared at her a moment, and then grinned.  “No big.  You all right now?”

“No.”  Lapis rested her forehead on her arms.  “But…I think I will be.”

“That’s great, Lapis!”  Steven all but flung himself at Lapis, wrapping her in a hug.  The darker blue gem tensed for a moment, and then relaxed, leaning against him.

Then there was a light weight on Blue’s shoulder – Pearl’s hand, she discovered when she tilted her head to look.  The pale gem was leaning over her, giving her a small smile.

“I need you to come with me.”  Pearl gestured toward the temple.  “You too, Peridot.”

“What?”  Peridot stood.  “Why?”

“Because I have something to give you – both of you,” Pearl answered.  “Then we need to talk.  Blue, we need to step up your training; and Peridot, we need to start yours.  Oh, we should have done this a long time ago…”

Pearl made her way to the temple door and waited for Blue and Peridot to join her.  Then her gem glowed, as did one of the gems on the star decorating the door.  A line seemed to divide the door into two – with a separate circle surrounding the star – and then it opened to a room where large bowls seemed to be overflowing into a pool.

Pearl stepped inside, gesturing for the other two gems to follow.  Blue and Peridot exchanged glances, and then Peridot shrugged and went inside.  Blue took a step after the two gems, but allowed herself a quick glance back before moving forward.  Amethyst had joined the hug – a fact the darker blue gem didn’t seem to mind.  She still didn’t look happy by any means, but she seemed to be in better spirits.  Garnet had moved to the door and was looking out at the beach, possibly keeping watch for Jasper or any other hostile gems. 

Everything was quiet and peaceful again, for now, and everyone she cared about – well, everyone she had access to – was going to be okay.  That knowledge comforted her, and brought forth the realization that she would also be okay.  Earlier, she’d been willing to throw herself in danger to keep one of her teammates safe, and she knew it wasn’t just Lapis she’d fight for.  Steven and his whole team and even some of the humans in town – Jamie, Greg, and Kiki flashed through her mind at the thought – had all shown her kindness and helped her adjust to life on a modern Earth.  As long as she had them, she had every reason to protect this planet, and every reason to stay close.  The absence of her Diamond would always tear at her core, but she wasn’t alone, and she wasn’t lost.

She was home.

“Blue, are you coming?”

Pearl’s voice was gentle, but it still managed to startle her.  She turned away from Steven’s room and hurried after Pearl and Peridot.  She couldn’t dwell on what had happened anymore.

She needed to keep moving forward, no matter where that path might lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? A chapter finished in a timely manner? Huh, didn't know I could still do that.
> 
> The bulk of the story has more-or-less ended, though I do have an epilogue coming. Not sure when it'll be up, but I'm expecting it to be pretty short, so I'm hoping to get it posted at some point in the next week. Anyway, I hope you've been enjoying this so far and thanks for sticking with me this long. We're almost at the end of this story but I have others planned in the series so it won't really be over.
> 
> As for what Pearl's giving Blue and Peridot...that'll be revealed in the epilogue, though I'm sure at least some of you have correct guesses.


	9. Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue and Pearl reflect on things, and normal life continues to evolve.

The light from the warp pad faded, and Blue found herself back in front of the temple.  She stepped off the warp pad and took a seat on the bench where she could watch the sun rise over the ocean.  Behind her, Pearl and Peridot were going over the morning’s training – keeping their voices quiet to avoid waking Steven.

The night Jasper showed up, Pearl had given each of them a sword from her collection – swords that were supposedly far superior to the basic ones used in training and meant to be kept on or near them at all times – and then she’d taken them to the sky arena for Peridot’s first practice.  The green gem hadn’t learned any fighting skills until that point because Pearl wanted to make sure she was secure on her feet first, but the attack had scared her – and probably the other Crystal Gems, to an extent.  They couldn’t afford to wait anymore, or they’d risk Peridot’s capture or shattering.  Blue’s own training had vastly increased.  She usually still participated in sessions with Connie, but now she also trained every morning, alongside Peridot.

It was funny now that the Crystal Gems had been waiting for Peridot to be more graceful on her feet.  The sword practice seemed to be helping with that.  She tripped over her own feet far less often now, and could even be expected to run long distances without falling.  Uneven terrain still gave her some trouble, and she still lost her footing frequently when she was in a real rush, but she seemed to improve a little each day.  Soon, it’d be almost like she’d never had limb enhancers at all.

Peridot climbed onto the bench beside her.  Blue nodded to her, and then to Pearl as she took a seat beside Peridot.  It was quiet now…when had they stopped talking?

“Is Lazuli back yet?”  Peridot peered outside at the beach, letting out a sigh when she didn’t find the blue gem.  “It’s been three whole days.”

“She’ll be back,” Pearl reassured her.  “You know she gets like this, sometimes.”

“I know.”  Peridot turned away from the window.  “I wonder where she goes when she decides to escape from us.”

“She has hiding places all over the city.”

Steven’s voice startled her, and she spun around.  The boy was standing right next to her, still in his pajamas.

“I’m sorry, Steven,” Pearl’s voice sounded from behind her.  “We didn’t mean to wake you.”

Steven smiled at her.  “You didn’t.  I was already working on getting up.  It just took a while.  Bed’s so…”  He paused to yawn.  “…Cozy.”

“Sounds like you could use another hour or two,” Peridot responded.

Steven shook his head.  “I’m fine, though I might have a nap later.  If I’m up now, I have a chance of making it to the Big Donut right when they open.  Then I can have the first three donuts of the morning!”

“Why not get a couple dozen and eat them throughout the day?”  Amethyst approached from the temple and leaned against the door.

Steven turned to her.  “I could do that, but I think I’ll want more than donuts today.  It’s been a while since I’ve had a good hot dog, or I might be more of a burger man tonight…”

Amethyst shrugged.  “That’s fine.  I’ll have the ones you don’t finish.”

Steven laughed.  “Well…  I guess I could treat us.  Did you guys want to come along?”

“Sure.”  Amethyst glanced to where Blue, Pearl, and Peridot were sitting.  “Any of you comin’?”

Blue smiled and shook her head.  Donuts…were not something she particularly enjoyed, at least not enough to deal with the after-effects of eating.  Steven gave her a small smile, possibly to encourage her deciding on her own.  That still felt weird, and probably would for a few thousand years, but it was coming to her a lot easier than it had at the start of her stay with the Crystal Gems.

“No, thank you.”  Pearl’s disdain for donuts dripped in her voice.  Blue couldn’t help a small giggle at her tone.  She would be the first to admit that she was picky, but Pearl seemed to have a hatred for all food, or at least the process of digesting it.  From what Steven had told her, Pearl eating anything was a rare event, even if it was a food item she enjoyed.

“That’s two ‘no’s…”  Steven mused.  “Peridot?”

“Eh…why not?”  Peridot climbed off the bench and moved to stand near Amethyst.  “As long as the curly-haired one isn’t anywhere around.”

“I don’t think so,” Steven replied.  “But if he is, we’ll protect you.”

Peridot looked uneasy – and Blue didn’t blame her – but she walked out the door without hesitation as Steven opened it for her.  Amethyst followed, and Steven grinned at Blue and Pearl as he sprinted out to join them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go with them?” Pearl asked quietly once the door had closed.

Blue turned to the pale gem, head tilted slightly.  Should she have gone?

Pearl held her hands up.  “It’s perfectly fine to stay, of course, but I know you’re more comfortable around Steven.”  She smiled softly.  “He has a genuine gentleness about him – he cares about everyone he meets.  It takes time, sometimes, but he’s able to win the trust and loyalty of everyone he meets.”  The smile disappeared then, and Pearl tilted her head upward, toward the portrait above the door.  “It was the same with Rose…  She could make anyone feel like anything, and she fought to save this planet and all gems who desired freedom – the chance to be something other than a tool for the Diamonds’ plans.”

Blue nodded along to Pearl’s words as she talked, frowning.  Pearl looked so sad, now…  She knew that Pearl and Rose Quartz worked well together form the attack on the court over five thousand years ago.  She was sure her knowledge didn’t even scratch the surface when it came to the depths of the history and relationships between the Crystal Gems, though.  She’d probably been privy to more information than most Pearls, since she’d belonged to a Diamond who trusted her, but even she was kept in the dark about most things relating to the war, and then Homeworld gave up on the Earth and the subject was dropped permanently.

Blue bit down on her tongue.  She needed to stop that train of thought before the pain started up again.  As long as she didn’t think too much about the past, she could at least be content here.  She had a long way to go before she could really be happy for long stretches of time, but she thought she was on the way to that, and she didn’t want to delay her healing any more than she’d already done by dwelling on what she could no longer have.  Besides, she needed to focus on Pearl.  There was a lot of pain in the pale gem’s voice.  What could she do to help?

Pearl sighed and shook her head.  “Everything changes so much so fast on this world…  It really is amazing.”

Blue’s frown deepened, and she leaned against the pale gem, offering comfort in the only way she could think of.  There was another sigh, and Pearl seemed to deflate a little.  Then, after a moment, she wrapped an arm around Blue and gave her a light squeeze.

“I think we both need to get our minds on something happier.”  Pearl stood, and Blue straightened her posture to avoid falling over.

The pale gem held out a hand to her, and she took it, allowing Pearl to pull her to her feet and lead her to the center of the room.  Pearl led Blue through the first few steps and twirls, and Blue focused on their movements, everything else fading away.  This, at least, felt normal, and she knew it was only a matter of time before everything else in her new life felt just as natural as the dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for sticking with me through this whole thing. This is the end of the story, but not the series (for that, we're still at the beginning). I know I left some things open, but I plan to address them in a later story and just wanted to get those plotlines set up while I could. Not sure what will happen where right now, though.
> 
> Next up will probably be at least a couple one-shots/few chapter stories. I want to do something a bit more short-term for a while. I have a longish Lapis fic in planning, but I need the series to go a bit further before that can happen. The other Lapis fic (the mid-quel for Beyond Their Star) is stalled indefinitely, because Lapis is still refusing to tell me that story. She's a persnickety muse... I'll keep it listed as a possibility, though. I need to revamp the series page anyway, and add a timeline and list of canon changes and such.
> 
> I intend to keep writing for this series regularly, but my writing's slowing down a bit for the next couple months or so. RL is getting a bit more involved, and I don't have all the time I used to. I'm in therapy now, and I'm working with an organization to finally land a job I can do with my limited health (wish me luck...). If I can get a job, I'll have to see what I can handle once that settles into routine for me. I'm going to be getting a leopard gecko next month, and I need to massively research that to make sure my new pet has a long, happy, healthy life. At some point in the nearish future, I'll be working with my wife on an Undertale/Buffy crossover, and I'll want to focus on that while both our muses are cooperating at the same time. I'm probably taking the rest of this month off to plan the next few stories and to just catch my breath a bit after everything that's happened in the past few months (with my yearly trip and the wedding and therapy and everything else...this has been quite a year so far).
> 
> So yeah, thanks again and I'm sorry for the long chapter notes. I feel like there's more to say, but I can't think of anything else right now so I should probably just let you go here. I'll see you at the next story, whatever and whenever it will be!


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